THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


UNIFORM   WITH  THIS  VOLUME 

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I.     THE    LOVER 

BY  SIR  RICHARD  STEELE 

II.    THE    WISHING-CAP   PAPERS 

BY  LEIGH  HUNT 

III.     FIRESIDE    SAINTS 

MR.  CAUDLE'S  BREAKFAST  TALK  AND  OTHER  PAPERS 
BY  DOUGLAS  JERROLD 

IV.    DREAMTHORPE 

BY  ALEXANDER  SMITH 

V.    A   PHYSICIAN'S    PROBLEMS 

BY  CHARLES  ELAM 
VI.    BROKEN    LIGHTS 

AN  INQUIRY  INTO  THE  PRESENT  CONDITION  AND  FUTURE  PROS- 
PECTS OF  RELIGIOUS  FAITH 

BY  FRANCES   POWER  COBBE 
VII.    RELIGIOUS    DUTY 

TREATING  OF  DUTY.  OFFENCES.  FAULTS  AND  OBLIGATIONS  IN 
RELIGIOUS  LIFE 

BY  FRANCES  POWER  COBBE 

VIII.    THE   SCHOOLMASTER 

BY  ROGER  ASCHAM 

IX.  THE    DEVELOPMENT   THEORY 

THE  STUDY  OF  EVOLUTION  SIMPLIFIED 

BY  JOSEPH  Y.   AND  FANNY  BERGEN 

X.  THE    PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIRTH 

WITH  750  ILLUSTRATIVE  ANECDOTES 

BY  B.  F.  CLARK 

XI.    THE   GENTLEMAN 

BY  GEORGE  H   CALVERT 

XII.     EDUCATION 

BY  HERBERT  SPENCER 


PHYSICIAN'S    PROBLEMS 


BY 


CHARLES   ELAM,  M.D.,  M.R.C.P. 


NEW     EDITION 


BOSTON    1889 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD    PUBLISHERS 

10  MILK  ST.  NEXT  "THE  OLD  SOUTH  MEETING  HOUSE", 

CHARLES    T.    DILLINGHAM 

NEW  YOUK  718  AND  720  BROADWAY 


' 


BIO 

Lib 


"  Each  of  us  is  only  the  footing-up  of  a  double  column  of  figures  that  goes 
back  to  the  first  pair.  Every  unit  tells,  —  and  some  of  them  are  plus  and  some 
minus.  If  the  columns  don't  add  up  right,  it  is  commonly  because  we  can't 
make  out  all  the  figures." 

"  There  are  people  who  think  that  everything  may  be  done,  if  the  doer,  be  he 
educator  or  physician,  be  only  called  '  in  season.'  No  doubt,  —  but  in  season 
would  often  be  a  hundred  or  two  years  before  the  child  was  born ;  and  people 
never  send  so  early  as  that." 

0.  W.  HOLMES. 


"  Of  the  two  elements  that  compose  the  moral  condition  of  mankind,  our  gen- 
eralized knowledge  is  almost  restricted  to  one.  We  know  much  of  the  ways  in 
which  political,  social,  or  intellectual  causes  act  upon  character,  but  scarcely 
anything  of  the  laws  that  govern  innate  disposition,  of  the  reasons  and  extent  of 
the  natural  moral  diversities  of  individuals  or  races.  I  think,  however,  that 
most  persons  who  reflect  upon  the  subject  will  conclude  that  the  progress  of 
medicine,  revealing  the  physical  causes  of  different  moral  predispositions,  is 
likely  to  place  a  very  large  measure  of  knowledge  on  this  point  within  our 
reach." 

LECKY'S  «  History  of  European  Morals,"  Vol.  I.  p.  166 


PKEF  ACE. 


THE  following  Essays  are  intended  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  Natural  History  of  those  outlying  regions 
of  Thought  and  Action,  whose  domain  is  the  "  de- 
batable ground  "  of  Brain,  Nerve,  and  Mind.  They 
are  designed  also  to  indicate  the  origin  and  mode  of 
perpetuation  of  those  varieties  of  organization,  in- 
telligence, and  general  tendencies  towards  vice  or 
virtue,  which  seem,  on  a  superficial  view,  to  be  so 
irregularly  and  capriciously  developed  and  distrib- 
uted in  families,  and  amongst  mankind.  Subsid- 
iarily, they  point  to  causes  for  the  infinitely  varied 
forms  of  disorder  of  nerve  and  brain,  —  organic  and 
functional,  —  far  deeper  and  more  recondite  than 
those  generally  believed  in ;  —  causes  that  are  closely, 
if  not  inextricably,  connected  with  our  original  na- 
ture on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  with  our 
social  and  political  regulations. 

In  attempting  to  make  each  Essay  complete  in 
itself,  and  yet  an  integral  part  of  a  connected  series, 
it  has  occurred  that  there  are  many  repetitions  both 
of  fact  and  formula.  For  these  I  must  ask  indul- 
gence, as  being  inevitable ;  as  well  as  for  many  other 
faults  of  composition  and  style. 

But  whilst  I  offer  an  apology  for  the  manner,  I 


vi  PREFACE. 

have  none  to  bring  forward  for  the  matter  in  ques- 
tion. Though  written  in  the  intervals  of  an  active 
professional  life,  these  Essays  have  been  the  fruits 
of  my  most  careful  and  earnest  thought.  As  would 
become  a  courteous  host,  I  offer  to  him  who  will 
sit  down  with  me  the  best  I  have,  without  apology. 
I  can  scarcely  anticipate  that  the  views  enunciated, 
especially  in  the  first  three  chapters,  will  meet  in  all 
respects  with  general  acceptance  or  approval,  even 
amongst  thoughtful  men.  They  relate  to  "prob- 
lems" of  no  ordinary  complexity  and  difficulty, 
concerning  which  great  differences  of  opinion  are 
inevitable.  My  object  will  be  attained  if  intelligent 
inquiry  is  directed  to  the  solution  of  them ;  and  to 
an  investigation  of,  and  remedy  for,  some  of  the  evils 
here  indicated. 

HARLEY  STREET,  June  21,  1869. 


CONTENTS 


PACK 

I.    NATURAL  HERITAGE 

II.    ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN  MAN     .... 

III.  ON  MORAL  AND  CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS  .         .         .  137 

IV.  BODY  v.  MIND 199 

V.    ILLUSIONS  AND  HALLUCINATIONS    ....  256 

THE  DEMON  OF  SOCRATES    ....  299 

THE  AMULET  OF  PASCAL 327 

VI.    ON  SOMNAMBULISM   . 

VII.    REVERY  AND  ABSTRACTION 362 


NOTES  .        •        •         381 


A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 


i. 

NATURAL  HERITAGE. 

PROBLEM  :  What  of  essential  nature  do  our  parents  and 
ancestors  bequeath  to  us  ? 

Apart  from  those  transitory  possessions  of  money,  houses, 
and  land,  which  do  not  endure,  what  do  we  derive  from 
our  parents  that  is  permanent  and  inalienable,  —  that 
determines  our  temperament  and  constitution,  our  pro- 
clivities to  health  or  disease,  to  virtue  or  vice,  to  dulness, 
mediocrity,  or  genius,  —  in  short,  our  entire  intellectual 
and  moral  nature,  no  less  than  our  physical  organiza- 
tion ? 

IT  is  a  common  saying  that  "the  child  is  father  of  the 
man,"  —  an  axiom  to  which  I  have  no  objection  to  urge. 
But  my  present  intention  is  to  show  that  there  would  be 
a  more  profound  significance  in  the  apparent  truism,  that 
*'  the  man  is  father  of  the  child  "  ;  in  other  words,  that 
the  child  is  not  only  the  offspring  of  the  race  (as  a  spe- 
cies), but  of  the  individual,  bearing  the  traces  and  conse- 
quences of  his  parentage  throughout  the  whole  of  his 
compound  nature,  —  on  his  body,  soul,  and  spirit ;  and, 
as  a  most  serious  corollary  to  this,  that  the  career  of 
that  child  for  good  or  evil,  for  personal  advantages  or 
the  contrary,  for  intellect  or  for  imbecility,  and  even  for 
moral  tendencies,  if  not  written  before  his  birth  "  with 

1  A 


2  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

pen  of  adamant  on  tablet  of  brass,"  is  at  least  marked 
out  for  him  by  boundary  lines,  which  to  overpass,  if  un- 
favorable, will  require  more  than  ordinary  courage,  reso- 
lution, and  a  concurrence  of  favorable  circumstances  not 
often  to  be  looked  for.  This  position  I  propose  now  to 
illustrate. 

A  very  cursory  glance  over  the  infinitely  varied  forms 
of  animal  life  shows  two  leading  principles  in  accordance 
with  which  these  forms  are  arranged  and  originally  con- 
structed, viz.  Uniformity  and  Diversity ;  the  former 
manifested  in  those  analogies  of  structure,  type,  and 
function  which  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  obtain 
throughout  the  whole  of  animated  nature,  enabling  us 
to  form  groups  for  convenience  of  investigation  and  de- 
scription ;  the  latter  indicated  in  those  differences  which 
constitute  the  characteristics  of  the  various  subdivisions 
into  class,  orders,  genera,  and  species.  With  this  final 
division  into  species  (or,  according  to  some  physiologists, 
into  varieties  or  races),  the  law  of  Diversity,  so  far  as 
regards  the  specific  or  distinctive  type  of  structure,  is 
suspended  ;  species  is  constant,  —  it  may  become  extinct, 
but  it  cannot  change.  According  to  Cuvier,  the  cats, 
dogs,  apes,  oxen,  birds  of  prey,  and  crocodiles  of  the  Cat- 
acombs, do  not  differ  from  those  of  our  own  times,  any 
more  than  human  mummies  thousands  of  years  old  differ 
from  the  skeletons  of  to-day.  Lamarck,  GeofFroy  St.  Hi- 
laire,  Darwin,  and  others,  have  certainly  disputed  the 
absolute  fixity  of  species,  recognizing  the  possibility  of 
new  species  arising  by  accidental  variation,  and  natural 
selection,  from  those  already  existing.  But  since  we  have 
no  direct  evidence  of  this  ever  taking  place,  and  have 
abundance  of  presumptive  proof  to  the  contrary,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  the  experience  of  three  thousand  years  will 
avail,  we  may  safely  assert  that,  in  this  broad  general 
view,  parents  live  in  their  offspring. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  3 

But  although  the  law  of  Diversity  is  no  longer  opera- 
tive in  the  modification  of  the  specific  type,  its  effects  are 
manifest  in  the  production  of  infinite  varieties  of  indi- 
viduality. Although  a  dog  is  always  a  dog,  and  a  sheep 
always  a  sheep,  there  are  no  two  exactly  alike ;  in  a  pack 
of  the  former,  or  a  flock  of  the  latter,  there  are  such  in- 
dividual peculiarities  in  each  as  to  make  them  readily 
distinguishable  by  those  familiar  with  them.  These  dif- 
ferences are  more  numerous  and  more  clearly  marked  in 
proportion  as  the  animal  is  more  or  less  domesticated  ; 
in  other  words,  in  proportion  as  the  mode  of  existence  is 
more  or  less  artificial. 

In  color  and  general  form  the  wild  horse,  rabbit,  pig, 
or  cat  presents  so  little  variety,  that  the  most  practised 
eye  would  generally  fail  to  detect  any  given  individual 
out  of  a  number  ;  whilst  the  domesticated  representa- 
tives of  these  tribes  are  in  many  cases  as  distinct  in  per- 
sonal characteristics  as  though  belonging  to  different 
species.  As  might  be  expected  from  analogy,  man,  lead- 
ing a  much  more  domesticated  and  artificial  life  than 
any  other  animal,  presents  these  individual  varieties 
multiplied  to  an  extreme.  In  the  countless  millions  of 
our  race  that  have  lived  since  the  creation  of  the  world, 
it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  no  two  have  been  exactly 
alike  in  person,  intellect,  or  moral  nature  ;  —  none  so 
similar  that,  placed  side  by  side,  no  mark  of  distinction 
could  have  been  detected. 

"  Postremo  quodvis  frumentum,  non  tamen  omne 
Quodque  in  suo  genere  inter  se  simile  esse  videbis, 
Quin  intercurrat  quoedam  distantia  formis. 
Concharumque  genus  simili  ratione  videmus, 
Pingere  telluris  gremium,  qua  mollibus  undis 
Littoris  incurvi  bibulam  pavit  scquor  arenam."  —  LUCRETIUS. 

Yet  with  all  this  diversity  the  primary  law  of  uniform- 
ity is  not  forgotten ;  the  dwarf  and  the  giant,  the  black, 
the  yellow,  and  the  white,  Antinoiis  and  Thersites,  tho 


4  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

philosopher  and  the  iinhecile,  the  virtuous  man  and  the 
man  of  the  most  debased  instincts  and  tendencies,  —  all 
these,  contrasted  as  they  mutually  are,  are  still  contained 
within  the  normal  type  of  humanity,  and  in  their  ex- 
tremes are  still  more  like  the  ideal  man  than  any  other 
creature. 

The  operation,  then,  of  these  two  original  laws  is  con- 
stant and  uniform  ;  and  it  becomes  an  interesting  ques- 
tion to  ask  whether  any  individual  man  is  the  child  of 
the  species  or  of  the  parents  essentially.  Looking  at  the 
innumerable  instances  of  unmistakable  resemblance  be- 
tween parent  and  offspring,  both  of  a  physical  and  a 
moral  nature,  we  are  led  to  believe  in  a  direct  and  uni- 
form heritage  of  quality  and  form  ;  whilst  considering  the 
striking  differences  between  members  of  even  the  same 
family,  we  cannot  but  recognize  that  this  direct  heritage 
is  greatly  affected  by  modifying  agencies. 

Under  the  law  of  uniform  transmission  of  organiza- 
tion, we  observe  children  inheriting  not  only  the  general 
form  and  appearance  of  their  parents,  but  also  their 
mental  and  moral  constitutions,  —  not  only  in  their  origi- 
nal and  essential  characters,  but  even  in  those  acquired 
habits  of  life,  of  intellect,  of  virtue,  or  of  vice,  for  which 
they  have  been  remarkable.  Under  the  law  of  Diversity, 
we  observe  deformity  and  ugliness  giving  origin  to  grace 
and  beauty,  apparent  health  producing  disease,  virtue 
succeeded  by  vice,  intellect  by  imbecility,  and  the  con- 
verse of  all  these  phenomena.  By  virtue  of  this  law, 
therefore,  generations  are  enabled  to  free  themselves 
from  the  taint  entailed  upon  them  by  their  ancestry,  and 
return  to  their  original  purity  of  type. 

It  may,  however,  be  doubted  whether  these  two  laws 
be  in  reality  so  opposed  as  they  appear  to  be  on  a  super- 
ficial view,  —  whether  any  viable  child  is  ever  born  with- 
out distinct  external  or  internal  evidence  of  its  parent- 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  5 

age  in  some  feature  or  organ ;  and  whether  the  evident 
differences  may  not  in  all  cases  be  due  to  a  direct  heri- 
tage of  some  temporary  and  transitory  condition  of  the 
vital  force  at  the  period  of  procreation.  This  may  be 
more  readily  elucidated  when  we  have  examined  the 
phenomena  of  likeness  and  dissimilarity  accompanying 
the  succession  of  generations. 

In  the  mean  time  the  action  of  the  two  laws  introduces 
an  insuperable  obstacle  to  the  exact  prediction  in  most 
instances  of  the  qualities  of  the  child  from  a  knowledge 
of  those  of  the  parents.  Yet  one  class  of  phenomena 
is  almost  exempt  from  this  species  of  uncertainty,  — 
the  most  important  and  the  .most  practical.  External 
form  and  color  may  be  subject  to  variation,  —  health  or 
disease  in  the  parent  need  not  necessarily  produce  in 
the  child  a  similar  condition,  —  organic  peculiarities  may 
possibly  disappear  in  the  offspring,  —  inherent,  intellect- 
ual, or  moral  qualities  may  not  always  be  transmitted  ; 
but  an  acquired  and  habitual  vice  will  rarely  fail  to  leave 
its  trace  upon  one  or  more  of  the  offspring,  either  in  its 
original  form  or  one  closely  allied.  "  Habitus  per  as- 
suetudinem  adquisitus  transit  in  naturam,  quse  difficul- 
ter  removetur."  (Mercatus,  De  Morb.  Hered.)  The 
habit  of  the  parent  becomes  the  all  but  irresistible  in- 
stinct of  the  child ;  the  voluntarily  adopted  and  cher- 
ished vice  of  the  father  or  mother  becomes  the  overpow- 
ering impulse  of  the  son  or  daughter ;  the  organic  tenden- 
cy is  excited  to  the  uttermost,  and  the  power  of  will  and 
of  conscience  is  proportionately  weakened,  —  weighty  con- 
siderations in  forming  a  judgment  on  the  responsibility 
of  those  so  fatally  affected  by  this  direct  inheritance  of 
crime.  And  so  by  a  natural  law  it  is,  and  not  by  any 
arbitrary  or  unjust  interpolation  of  Divine  vengeance, 
that  the  sins  of  the  parents  are  visited  upon  tlie  chil- 
dren, —  that  the  fathers  eat  sour  grapes,  and  the  chil- 
dren's teeth  are  set  on  edge. 


6  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

The  illustration  of  this  principle,  and  the  important 
claims  which  its  recognition  has  both  upon  individuals 
and  communities,  will  form  the  chief  object  of  my  pivs- 
ent  remarks  ;  but  before  entering  upon  it,  it  will  be  ne- 
cessary to  review  the  general  phenomena  accompanying 
successive  generations,  organically  considered,  which  I 
shall  proceed  to  do  after  disposing  briefly  of  some  proba- 
ble objections. 

The  doctrine  of  hereditary  transmission  of  qualities, 
both  corporeal  and  mental,  has  had  a  somewhat  singular 
fate  amongst  philosophers  ;  inasmuch  as  it  has  met  with 
almost  universal  acceptance  as  a  matter  of  fact  and  the- 
ory, yet  has  been  almo  «  completely  ignored  as  to  its 
practical  bearing  by  moralists  and  legislators.  Histori- 
ans and  poets  have  alike,  in  ancient  times,  registered  the 
philosophic  and  popular  views  which  attributed  both 
personal  and  moral  characteristics  to  parentage.  He- 
rodotus mentions  the  heritage  of  caste,  of  profession, 
and  of  moral  and  intellectual  attributes.  He  casually 
alludes  to  Evenius  possessing  the  power  of  divination, 
which,  as  a  natural  consequence,  was  inherited  by  his 
son,  Deiphonus.  Homer  represents  Minerva  as  address- 
ing Telemachus  in  language  which  doubtless  embodies 
the  popular  views  of  that  time  :  — 

"  Telemachus!  thon  shalt  hereafter  prove 
Nor  base  nor  poor  in  talents.     If  in  truth 
Thou  have  received  from  Heaven  thy  father's  force 
Instilled  into  thee,  and  resemblest  him 
In  promptness  both  of  action  and  of  speech, 
Thy  voyage  shall  not  useless  be,  nor  vain. 
But  if  Penelope  produced  thec  not 
His  son,  I  then  hope  not  for  good  effect 
Of  this  design,  which  ardent  thou  pursuest. 
Few  sons  their  fathers  equal :  most  appear 
Degenerate:  but  we  find,  though  rare,  sometimes 
A  son  superior  even  to  his  sire." 

Hippocrates,  noticing  the  resemblance  of  children  to 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  7 

their  parents,  concludes  that  this  does  not  so  much  er 
so  essentially  consist  in  the  formation  or  organization 
of  the  body,  as  in  the  habit  or  condition  of  the  mind,  — 
et  patrum  in  natos  abeunt  cum  semine  mores. 

Horace's  well-known  maxim  is  to  the  same  effect  :  — 

"  Fortes  creantur  fortibus  et  bonis; 
Est  in  juvencis,  cst  in  equts  patruin 
Virtus;  nee  imbellem feroces 
Progenerant  aquilae  columbam." 

And  again,  Juvenal  :  — 

"  Scilicet  expectas,  ut  tradat  mater  honestos, 
Atque  alios  mores,  quam  quos  habet?  utile  porro 
Filiolam  turpi  vetulae  produc^e  turpem."  —  Sal.  vi. 

The  sacred  writings  abound  with  the  recognitions  of 
moral  heritage ;  I  have  alluded  to  some  of  these  pas- 
sages above.  There  is  another  apparently  still  more 
direct  and  forcible.  It  was  a  cutting  reproach  to  the 
Jews,  but  was  not  considered  even  by  them  as  illogical 
or  inconsequent  to  say,  "  Wherefore  ye  be  witnesses  unto 
yourselves,  that  ye  are  the  children  of  them  which 
killed  the  prophets  :  Fill  ye  up  then  the  measure  of 
your  fathers."  The  sacred  code  of  the  Hindoos  carries 
the  principle  of  hereditary  resemblance  almost  to  a  mys- 
tical identity  of  personality. 

The  opinions  of  thoughtful  men  of  later  times  may 
almost  be  summed  up  in  the  words  of  the  profound  phy- 
siologist, Burdach  :  "  that  heritage  has  in  reality  more 
power  over  our  constitution  and  character,  than  all  the 
influences  from  without,  whether  moral  or  physical." 

Notwithstanding  all  this  weight  of  testimony  to  the 
significance  of  the  phenomena,  and  notwithstanding  the 
undeniable  force  of  these,  the  consequences  of  the  doc- 
trine in  question  are  so  grave,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
inevitable,  that  it  is  in  no  degree  surprising  that  men 
have  Attempted  to  escape  from  them  by  denying  the 


8  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

premises.  The  objections  have  come  from  the  metaphy- 
sician, the  speculative  moralist,  the  theologian,  and  the 
legislator.  The  first,  assuming  and  asserting  man's  soul 
to  be  simple,  indivisible,  and  uncompounded,  rejects  en- 
tirely the  possibility  of  its  owing  anything  to  a  double 
parentage,  —  the  trunk,  he  says,  cannot  arise  from  two 
stems.  The  speculative  moralist  objects  that  man  is 
hereby  made  at  once  more  and  less  responsible  for  his 
actions ;  less  so,  because  the  strong,  sometimes  almost 
irresistible,  tendency  to  them  is  born  with  him,  along 
with  a  weakened  power  of  will  or  resistance,  —  more  and 
more  weightily  responsible,  because  the  effects  of  his 
evil  deeds  do  not  die  with  him,  but  are  handed  down  to 
after-generations.  The  theologian  reads  that  "  the  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die,"  and  that  the  children  shall 
not  be  answerable  for  the  sins  of  the  parents  ;  and  he 
cannot  see  how  this  is  consistent  with  a  direct  heritage 
of  propensity  to  special  evil,  superadded  to  the  original 
taint  of  transgression.  The  legislator  objects  to  the  doc- 
trine because  of  the  apparently  insuperable  difficulties 
which  its  practical  recognition  would  introduce,  in  the 
adjudication  of  degrees  of  culpability  for  crime.  All 
these  see  the  natural  and  inevitable  consequence  of  these 
views,  and  alike  escape  from  them  by  denying  hereditary 
influence,  some  in  toto,  others  in  part.  Such  as  are 
consistent  and  unscrupulous  profess  to  see  no  such  thing 
anywhere  as  either  physical  or  moral  heritage,  affirm inu 
that  all  resemblances  are  accidental,  —  the  casual  re- 
sults of  the  numerous  combinations  of  the  elements  of 
the  species  ;  amongst  these  it  is  astonishing  to  find  so 
careful  an  observer  as  Louis.  Others,  amongst  whom 
the  distinguished  physiologist,  Lordat,  is  the  leader,  ac- 
knowledge the  hereditary  force  in  animals,  but  deny  it 
in  man.  Others,  again,  compelled  by  force  of  demon- 
stration to  recognize  a  natural  succession  of  corporeal 


NATURAL   HERITAGE. 

qualities,  forcibly  dismember  human  nature  ;  and,  whilst 
they  acknowledge  that  organization  begets  like  organi- 
zation, they  utterly  and  completely  deny,  irrespective 
of  all  evidence,  the  influence  of  man's  moral  nature 
upon  his  descendants ;  and  hypothecate  a  continual  re- 
creation of  soul  and  mind  for  each  individual  and  each 
generation.  It  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  say  that  the  the- 
ologian cannot  hold  this  latter  view,  as  it  would  be  sub- 
versive of  the  doctrine  of  inherited  and  original  moral 
taint. 

I  have  introduced  these  objections,  apparently  out  of 
place,  before  illustrating  the  doctrines  themselves,  be- 
cause they  are  such  as  will  naturally  suggest  themselves 
to  the  reader's  mind,  as  he  sees  the  consequences  develop- 
ing from  facts  ;  and  I  wish,  by  a  very  brief  answer,  to 
provide  against  this.  I  would  say,  in  the  first  place, 
that  if  facts  are  clear  and  conclusive,  a  priori  theoretic 
considerations  cannot  reasonably  be  allowed  to  annul  the 
deductions.  In  regard  to  the  moral  responsibility  of 
given  individuals,  the  subject  is  beset  with  difficulties, 
and  can  scarcely  be  satisfactorily  discussed  until  we  are 
further  advanced  in  the  inquiry.  It  may  be  said?  how- 
ever, at  this  stage,  that  tendency  is  not  action.  Between 
the  impulse  to  commit  any  given  act,  and  its  actual  ac- 
complishment, there  is  in  the  sane  mind  an  interval 
during  which  Will  and  Conscience  are  in  operation  ;  and, 
according  as  action  conforms  to  these  two,  it  is  more 
or  less  an  object  of  responsibility.  To  the  legislator  wo 
may  reply  very  concisely,  —  either  the  doctrine  is  true, 
or  it  is  false  ;  if  the  latter,  this  must  be  proved  by  facts, 
and  not  by  ex  post  facto  considerations ;  if  the  former, 
any  attempt  to  deny  or  ignore  it,  simply  to  evade  sup- 
posed difficulties,  is  merely  criminal. 

There  are  others,  however,  whose  indisposition  to  en> 
tertain  this  doctrine  is  of  a  more  practical  nature,  and 
1* 


10  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

more  deserving  of  sympathy,  —  I  mean  those  who  con- 
sider the  bearing  of  this  question  upon  the  heritage  of 
disease.  They  see  the  facts  of  frequent,  perhaps  almost 
invariable,  succession  of  disease,  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, but  hesitate  to  recognize  in  this  the  stern  pressure 
of  an  inevitable  law.  To  them  it  seems  hard  that  masses 
of  the  people  should  have  to  say,  "  Our  fathers  have  sinned, 
and  are  not  ;  and  we  have  borne  their  iniquities."  Yet  in 
the  arrangements  alike  of  nature  and  Providence,  it  will 
be  found  that  if  "  clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about 
Him"  it  will  ultimately  appear  that  "  righteousness  and 
judgment  are  the  habitations  of  His  throne."  Even  out  of 
this  darkness  there  gleams  a  light.  Evil  is  not  eternal, 
nor  disease,  —  it  has  its  natural  history,  its  rise,  and  its 
decay  and  disappearance.  As  in  all  natural  departures 
from  original  type,  due  to  special  causes,  there  is  a  con- 
stant tendency  to  return  to  the  type,  when  the  disturbing 
influences  are  removed ;  so  in  disease,  when  the  cause  is 
removed,  lapse  of  time,  or  a  succession  of  generations, 
may  purify  the  organization,  and  the  curse  will  be  re- 
moved. In  Dr.  Gull's  eloquent  discourse  on  "  Clinical 
Observation  in  Relation  to  Medicine  in  Modern  Times" 1 
there  are  some  remarks  so  appropriate  to  this  subject, 
that  I  make  no  apology  for  quoting  them  at  length  : 
"  The  strength  of  modern  therapeutics  lies  in  the  clearer 
perception  than  formerly  of  the  great  truth,  that  diseases 
are  but  perverted  life  processes,  and  have  for  their  natural 
history,  not  only  a  beginning,  but  a  period  of  culmination 
and  decline.  In  common  inflammatory  affections,  this  is 
now  admitted  to  be  an  almost  universal  law.  By  time 
and  rest,  that  innate  vix  medicatrix, 

'  Which  hath  an  operation  more  divine 
Than  breath  or  pen  can  give  expression  to,1 

reduces  the  perversions  back  again  to  the  physiological 
i  See  Notes  at  the  end  of  the  Essay. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  11 

limits,  and  health  is  restored.  To  this  beneficent  law 
we  owe  the  maintenance  of  the  form  and  beauty  of  our 
race,  in  the  presence  of  so  much  that  tends  to  spoil  and 
degrade  it.  We  cannot  pass  through  the  crowded  streets 
and  alleys  of  our  cities  without  recognizing  proofs  of  this 
in  the  children's  faces,  in  spite  of  all  their  squalor  and 
misery  ;  and  when  we  remember  what  this  illustration, 
in  all  its  details,  reveals,  we  may  well  take  heart,  even 
where  our  work  seems  most  hopeless.  The  effects  of 
disease  may  be  for  a  third  or  fourth  generation,  but  the 
laws  of  health  are  for  a  thousand" 

Having  thus  alluded  to  the  objections  urged  against 
natural  heritage  (to  which,  should  space  permit,  I  shall 
return  hereafter),  I  now  proceed  to  a  detailed  examina- 
tion of  the  phenomena  upon  which  these  views  are 
founded,  under  the  two  divisions  of  the  law  of  Diversity, 
and  the  law  of  Uniformity,  or  likeness,  —  both  (and 
equally)  laws  of  inheritance  :  by  virtue  of  the  one,  the 
child  represents  the  nature  of  its  parent  ;  by  the  other, 
it  represents  also  the  possibilities  of  the  species.  But  in 
speaking  of  these  laws  let  it  be  understood  that  I  mean 
no  more  than  collections  of  phenomena.  Why  two  masses 
of  matter  attract  each  other,  or  why  under  other  circum- 
stances, they  repel,  we  cannot  tell  ;  neither  can  we  say 
ivhy  one  child  shall  be  like  its  parents,  and  another  not ; 
but  it  is  within  our  province  to  investigate  the  conditions 
under  which  such  attraction  and  repulsion  take  place  ; 
and  also  frequently  those  under  which  resemblance  and 
dissimilarity  occur. 

I  propose  to  commence  my  investigation  by  an  inquiry 
into  the  law  of  Diversity,  as  involving  in  itself  perhaps 
more  curious  facts  than  even  that  of  Uniformity.  As 
species  is  constant,  it  would  not  be  startling  to  find  that 
individual  type  became  constant  also  ;  that  beauty  should 
produce  beauty,  and  deformity,  deformity  ;  but  that  the 


12  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

reverse  should  frequently  happen  may  well  excite  some 
surprise. 

It  is  in  accordance  with  this  law  of  Diversity  that 
sjxries  has  so  strong  a  tendency,  after  artificial  or  acci- 
dental modification,  to  return  to  its  original  type,  —  as 
in  the  case  of  mixed  breeds  often  returning  to  one  or 
other  parent  stock.  In  accordance  with  it  also,  indi- 
viduals are  enabled  to  escape  the  consequences  of  evils 
which,  were  the  hereditary  law  constant,  would  be  en- 
tailed upon  them.  It  is  by  this  law  that  genius  arises 
from  mediocrity,  virtue  from  vice,  and  the  reverse  of 
these.  It  is  also  by  this  law  that,  under  certain  physical 
agencies,  under  certain  infractions  of  natural  or  moral 
regulations,  and  other  circumstances,  humanity  degene- 
rates into  something  far  below  its  type.  It  is  also  proba- 
bly in  accordance  with  this  law  of  spontaneous  variation, 
that  the  races  of  men,  now  so  different  as  to  have  sug- 
gested to  many  a  diversity  of  origin,  have  sprung  from 
one  stock,  in  which  a  variety  has  occurred  and  become 
hereditary.  This  will  receive  further  illustration  here- 
after. In  personal  appearance  it  frequently  happens 
that  children  do  not  at  all  resemble  their  parents  ;  from 
parents  remarkable  for  plainness,  as  Maupertuis  observes, 
spring  often  children  of  extreme  beauty.  This  fact  struck 
Sinibaldi  amongst  the  Italian  peasantry  very  forcibly. 
"  I  have  often  asked  myself,"  says  he,  "whence  it  arose, 
that  from  almost  deformed  rustics,  and  from  females  of 
hideous  features,  should  spring  girls  of  ravishing  beauty." 
His  somewhat  singular  theory  I  give  in  his  own  words  :  — 

"  Scio  aliquem  mordicus  responsurum  id  accidere,  quia  hro 
cum  nobilibus,  venustisque,  si  placeat,  congredinntur.  Absit 
injuria ;  non  enim  tanta  libidinis  licentia  cst  in  urbe,  ut  ubique 
vulnerata  invenietur  pudicitia,  ubique  thalamus,  fides  que 
temerata.  Hocevenit  quoniam  in  urbe,  frequent issiine  festi- 
vitates  celebrantur,  aut  equitatus,  aut  publica  spectacula  fiunt, 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  13 

aut  coelitum  invisuntur  terapla,  aut  aune  captandae  gratia  per 
compita,  plateasque,  deambulatur.  His  omnibus  accurrunt 
mixtim  viri  mulieresque,  et  venusti  simul  juvenis,  ut  formo- 
sarum  conspectibus  fruantur.  Quare  mulierculae  quaecumque 
etiam  aspiciuntur,  salibus  ac  dicteriis  aphrodisiasticis  inces- 
suntur,  unde  et  illse  animo  menteque  idola  ilia  pulcherrimae 
juventutis  conspiciunt,  ad  quorum  deinde  exemplum  virtus 
formatrix,  dum  e  suis  viris  concipiunt,  decoras  emngit  facies, 
venustaque  pingit  membra." 2 

In  stature  it  sometimes  happens  that  moderately  sized 
parents  have  very  tall,  or  very  short  children,  without 
any  well-marked  physical  reasons  for  such  variations. 
Venette  relates  the  case  of  a  family  of  eight  children,  of 
whom  the  alternate  four  were  dwarfs.  The  celebrated 
Pole,  Borwslaski,  whose  height  was  twenty-eight  inches 
at  his  full  growth,  was  born  of  healthy  parents  of  ordi- 
nary stature.  They  had  six  children,  —  the  eldest  thirty- 
four  inches  high ;  the  youngest,  at  six  years  of  age, 
twenty-one  inches ;  the  three  other  brothers,  five  feet 
six  inches  each. 

The  eyes  and  hair  frequently  differ  in  color  from  those 
of  both  parents,  a  child  with  fair  hair  occurring  in  a 
family  of  brunettes,  &c.  A  recognition  of  the  true  prin- 
ciple of  "spontaneous  variation"  would,  in  some  of  these 
cases,  tend  to  prevent  any  misinterpretation  of  the  phe- 
nomena. A  variation  very  frequently  observed  in  the 
color  of  the  hair,  is  the  succession  of  red  hair  in  one  gen- 
eration to  black  hair  in  the  preceding  one.  A  friend,  very 
familiar  with  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  informs  me  that 
this  succession  is  almost  constant  there,  —  and  that  the 
Dhu,  or  black,  is  generally  succeeded  by  the  Ruach,  or 
red,  and  vice  versa,  —  whilst  the  Bahn,  Bant,  or  white, 
evinces  more  constancy  in  color.  It  is  exceedingly  rare  to 
find  red  or  black  hair  in  the  white  or  fair-haired  tribes ; 
while  the  darker  tribes  regularly  alternate  black  and  red. 


14  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

Sometimes  the  two  eyes  are  of  different  colors.  Buffou 
states  that  this  peculiarity  is  only  observed  in  the  horse 
and  in  man  ;  but  I  remember  to  have  seen  the  same  in 
an  entire  family  of  cats. 

Internal  organization,  and  what  is  called  temperament, 
of  children,  also  differ  from  those  of  the  parents  and 
each  other,  in  so  many  cases,  that  Louis  considers  varia- 
tion the  rule,  and  conformity  only  the  exception  :  "  Le 
temperament  des  enfants  qui  naissent  d'un  meme  pere, 
et  d'une  meme  mere,  est  presque  toujours  different ;  les 
uns  sont  bilieux,  les  autres  sanguins,"  &c. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  twins  are  often  very  differ- 
ent in  the  respects  just  alluded  to.  Barthez  relates  the 
case  of  two  twin  sisters,  in  Hungary,  who  lived  twenty- 
two  years,  and  who,  although  joined  together  by  organic 
union,  and  having  a  communicating  system  of  blood- 
vessels, were  of  most  dissimilar  temperament  and  disposi- 
tion. It  may  be  mentioned  that  twins  so  united  have 
not  generally  any  common  nature,  or  striking  similarity. 
An  interesting  illustration  of  the  diversities  that  may 
thus  exist  may  be  found  in  a  description  of  the  Siamese 
twins  by  Sir  James  Simpson,  in  the  Lancet  for  this 
month  (March,  1869). 

Curious  minor  idiosyncrasies  are  frequently  met  with, 
springing  up  in  children  without  corresponding  traits  in 
the  parents;  in  fact,  all  those  peculiarities  which  we 
shall  afterwards  see  becoming  hereditary  have  at  first 
originated  according  to  this  law  of  spontaneous  variation, 
of  which  little  explanation  can  be  given.  Zimmerman 
mentions  several  instances  of  these  apparent  anomalies. 
One  man  experiences  intolerable  anguish  on  having  his 
nails  cut ;  another  cannot  bear  the  touch  of  a  sponge  on 
the  face  ;  another  is  sick  with  the  srnell  of  coffee,  &c. : 
all  these  may  become  hereditary. 

There   are    spontaneous   variations  of  type   observed 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  15 

amongst  animals  which  are  of  more  importance  than 
these,  as  throwing  light  upon  certain  branches  of  anthro- 
pology, —  such  is  the  production  of  apparently  new  races 
from  an  old  stock.  I  do  not  here  allude  to  the  pro- 
gressive variations  often  produced  in  wild  races  of  ani- 
mals in  process  of  domestication,  —  changes  induced  by 
climate,  food,  culture,  <fec., — and  which  are  liable  gradu- 
ally to  disappear  on  a  return  to  the  wild  state,  such  as 
•have  been  observed  in  the  horse  and  the  wild  boar ;  but 
to  absolute  and  permanent  alteration  of  certain  parts  of 
the  organization  which  are  propagated  to  the  descend- 
ants in  perpetuity.  One  instance  will  suffice  to  illustrate 
this  point.  Dr.  Prichard  says  :  — 

"  A  singular  variety  of  sheep  has  appeared  within  a 
few  years  in  New  England,  which  furnishes  an  example 
of  the  origination  of  variety  in  form.  The  first  ancestor 
of  this  breed  was  a  male  lamb,  produced  by  a  ewe  of 
the  common  description.  This  lamb  was  of  singular 
structure,  and  his  offspring,  in  many  instances,  had  the 
same  characters  with  himself :  these  were  shortness  of 
the  limbs,  and  greater  length  of  the  body  in  proportion ; 
whence  this  race  of  animals  has  been  termed  the  otter 
breed  (otherwise  the  ancon  sheep).  The  joints  also  were 
longer,  and  their  fore-legs  crooked.  It  has  been  found 
advantageous  to  propagate  this  variety,  because  the  ani- 
mal is  unable  to  jump  over  fences." 

Instances  of  similar  originations  of  permanent  varieties 
from  the  ordinary  well-known  races  might  be  almost  in- 
definitely multiplied,  but  this  is  sufficient  to  illustrate 
the  principle ;  and  cases  are  related  of  analogous  dispro- 
portionate development  of  the  extremities  amongst  men, 
which  became  constant  in  some  families.  Buffon  men- 
tions several  instances  of  this  kind  ;  and  these  facts  have 
a  special  interest  as  bearing  upon  the  possibility  of  the 
origin  of  all  the  varieties  of  the  human  race  from  one 


16  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

common  stock.  The  differences  between  the  ancon  and 
the  ordinary  sheep  are  not  less  specific  and  marked  than 
those  between  the  European  and  the  African  ;  and  whilst 
we  see  one  originating  from  the  old  common  stock,  wo 
cannot  doubt  the  possibility  that  the  others  may  have 
had  a  common  parentage.  Neither  is  it  altogether  a 
matter  of  analogical  inference'  alone  that  varieties  may 
arise  under  our  observation  in  our  own  species,  having 
peculiarities  as  marked  as  those  of  any  separate  race.  In 
the  year  1731,  a  boy  named  Edward  Lambert  was  exhib- 
ited before  the  Royal  Society,  who  was  afterwards  exhib- 
ited in  London  as  the  Porcupine  Man.  He  was  at  this 
time  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  presented  a  very 
remarkable  appearance  :  his  whole  body  was  covered  by 
a  thick  horny,  scaly,  or  bristly  integument ;  the  most 
characteristic  pails  "  looking  and  rustling  like  the  bristles 
or  quills  of  a  hedgehog  shorn  off  within  an  inch  of  the 
skin."  Twenty-six  years  after  this  he  was  again  shown 
to  the  Royal  Society.  He  had  enjoyed  good  health,  but 
was  still  entirely  covered  by  these  bristles.  He  had  been 
twice  salivated,  and  once  had  the  small-pox,  at  which 
times  he  lost  his  covering ;  but  it  very  soon  reappeared. 
He  had  now  six  children,  all  with  the  same  rugged  cover- 
ing as  himself,  the  first  appearance  of  which  came  on,  as 
it  did  in  himself,  about  nine  weeks  after  birth.  The 
relator  of  this  account,  Mr.  Baker,  continues :  "  It  ap- 
pears, therefore,  past  all  doubt,  that  a  race  of  people  may 
be  propagated  by  this  man  having  such  rugged  coats,  or 
coverings  as  himself;  and  if  this  should  ever  happen, 
and  the  accidental  original  be  forgotten,  it  is  not  im- 
probable they  might  be  deemed  a  different  species  of 
mankind."  Mr.  Lawrence  adds  to  this :  "  Two  brothers, 
John  Lambert,  aged  twenty-two,  and  Richard,  aged  four- 
teen, grandsons  of  the  original  porcupine  man,  Edward 
Lambert,  were  shown  in  Germany,  and  had  the  cutaneous 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  17 

incrustation  already  described."  Dr.  Frichard  states 
that  he  has  seen  a  similarly  affected  individual,  who  gave 
himself  out  to  be  a  descendant  of  the  Lambert  family. 

One  of  the  most  distinctive  marks  of  the  negro  race 
has  been  esteemed  the  woolly  hair.  Dr.  Prichard  re- 
marks that  he  has  seen  hair  on  the  heads  of  some 
Europeans  scarcely  distinguishable  from  wool ;  "  par- 
ticularly of  a  boy  whose  parents  are  both  English  rus- 
tics, without  any  peculiarity  of  appearance  ;  the  boy 
had  hair  which  appeared  so  similar  to  that  of  an  African, 
that  on  a  minute  comparison  I  could  discern  no  other 
difference  than  that  of  color,  and  perhaps  a  slight  diver- 
sity in  the  surface." 

The  production  of  monstrosities  is  another  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  law  of  variety  in  heritage.  Examples 
are  very  numerous  amongst  animals.  Aucante  relates 
instances  of  four  successive  litters  of  puppies,  born  of 
healthy  parents,  some  of  which  in  each  litter  were  well 
formed,  whilst  the  remainder  were  without  anterior  ex- 
tremities, and  had  hare-lip.  Children  are  frequently 
born  with  hare-lip,  of  perfectly  healthy  parents.  Num- 
ber-less  instances  of  similar  spontaneous  malformations 
may  be  found  related  by  Burdach  and  Geoffrey  St. 
Hilaire,  and  also  by  Dr.  Prosper  Lucas  in  his  valuable 
and  comprehensive  work  "  Sur  I'Heredite'  Naturelle,"  to 
which  I  am  indebted  for  some  of  the  following  illustra- 
tions. The  learned  writer,  however,  is  not  always  so 
careful  in  weighing  and  sifting  his  facts  as  might  be 
wished.  One  of  his  illustrations  of  hereditary  longevity 
has  long  appeared  in  one  of  our  English  jest-books.  It 
may,  however,  have  an  earlier  authority,  and  a  more 
worthy  recommendation,  of  which  I  am  unaware. 

In  regard  to  intellectual  and  moral  varieties  springing 
up  in  the  same  families,  under  identical  conditions,  the 
experience  of  every  man  will  furnish  ample  illustrations. 


18  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

The  law  received  its  first  fulfilment  in  the  family  of  our 
first  parents,  and  has  never  failed  to  manifest  itself  for 
six  thousand  years.  Let  us  observe  carefully  those 
members  of  a  family  who  seem  even  most  alike,  and 
what  differences  shall  we  not  see  in  their  tastes,  their 
appetites,  their  inclinations,  talents,  ideas,  judgment, 
and  reasonings.  The  ancient  poets  had  not  failed  to  re- 
mark the  dissimilarity  of  those  most  closely  allied. 

"  Castor  gaudet  equis,  ovo  prognatus  eodem  pugnis," 

says  Horace ;  and  Herodotus  illustrates  the  same  point 
by  the  example  of  Eurysthenes  and  Procles.  The  only 
instance  which  we  need  mention  is  that  of  Ritta  and 
Christina,  the  Presbourg  twins,  who  were  united  like 
those  above  mentioned  by  an  organic  connection.  Of 
these,  one  was  pleasant,  quiet  and  amiable  ;  the  other 
was  plain,  ill-tempered,  quarrelsome,  and  of  extremely 
excitable  passions  :  she  was  so  violent  against  her  in- 
separable sister,  that  they  could  not  be  trusted  alone. 
Nothing  can  prove  more  strikingly  than  this  how  strong 
is  innate  disposition,  and  how  comparatively  slight  is  the 
influence  of  the  physical  and  moral  medium  in  which 
children  may  be  placed  ;  since  here  surrounding  circum- 
stances must  always  have  been  precisely  similar,  and 
yet  the  issue  was  so  diverse.  From  such  facts  as  these 
St.  Augustine 8  very  forcibly  argues  against  any  possible 
truth  in  astrology. 

The  law  of  Diversity,  acting  upon  the  intellectual  and 
moral  nature  of  the  child,  may  be  either  in  its  favor  or 
the  reverse  ;  of  the  former,  all  emanations  of  talent  or 
genius  not  possessed  by  the  parents  are  examples.  It 
has  long  been  a  popular  idea,  however,  that  clever  men 
more  frequently  have  fools  for  their  children  than  the 
reverse,  an  opinion  embodied  in  the  old  proverb, 
"  Heroum  filii  noxse,  et  amentes  Hippocratis  filii,"  and 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  19 

continually  illustrated  by  the  families  of  Pericles,  of 
Aristides,  Thucydides,  Phocion,  Aristarchus,  Socrates, 
Cato  of  Utica,  and  numerous  other  ancients ;  and  in 
modern  times  by  those  of  Henry  IV.,  Louis  XIV., 
Oliver  Cromwell,  Napoleon,  &c.  It  will  appear  hereafter 
that  an  equal  weight  of  testimony  may  be  adduced  on 
the  opposite  view ;  meantime,  as  in  all  these  instances 
of  diversity,  whether  moral  or  physical,  we  are  not 
in  condition  to  detect  the  law  which  presides  over 
them. 

Not  to  dwell  too  long  upon  this  branch  of  our  subject, 
I  shall  but  notice,  in  conclusion,  a  singular  instance  of 
an  unhealthy,  ill-developed  family  proceeding  from 
healthy,  robust,  intelligent,  and  moral  parents.  The 
eldest  son,  aged  twenty-four,  was  three  feet  two  inches  in 
height,  without  beard  or  signs  of  virility,  and  subject  to 
attacks  of  catalepsy.  The  next  to  him  was  tall,  strong, 
and  robust,  but  of  a  bad  disposition.  A  daughter,  aged 
sixteen,  was  three  feet  in  height,  and  an  almost  dumb 
idiot ;  another  girl,  aged  ten,  and  a  boy  of  seven,  were 
completely  imbecile,  and  could  not  speak,  having  tongues 
so  thick  that  they  could  not  be  protruded. 

Such  are  a  few  illustrations  of  the  principal  modes  in 
which  the  law  of  Diversity  manifests  itself ;  so  striking  in 
many  of  its  details  as  to  lead  observers  to  the  conclusion, 
that  diversity  is  the  one  law,  and  heritage  of  similar 
qualities  the  exception.  Thus,  the  distinguished  natural- 
ist, Bonnet,4  after  reviewing  these  phenomena,  comes  to 
this  opinion,  that  "  the  germ  bears  the  original  impress 
of  the  species,  but  not  of  individuality  ;  it  is  in  miniature 
a  man,  a  horse,  or  a  bull,  &c.  ;  but  it  is  not  any  individ- 
ual man,  or  horse,  or  bull."  Wollaston,  Helvetius,  Louis, 
Weikard,  and  a  host  of  great  names,  subscribe  tp  this 
view,  and  attribute  all  varieties,  all  resemblances,  and 
all  dissemblances,  to  the  medium  in  which  the  new-born 


20  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

man  or  animal  is  placed ;  —  medium  including  all  in- 
fluences both  moral  and  physical,  —  food,  climate,  edu- 
cation, &c.  How  incompatible  this  is  with  observed 
phenomena  has  already  partly  appeared,  and  will  appear 
more  fully  hereafter,  when  the  facts  of  direct  inheritance 
have  passed  under  notice. 

The  direct  transmission  of  the  qualities  of  the  parent 
to  the  child  is  shown  in  external  resemblance,  in  similar- 
ity of  internal  organization,  in  habit  and  gesture,  in 
temperament,  in  instinctive  impulses,  and  in  moral  and 
intellectual  tendencies  and  aptitudes.  Accidental  defects 
and  diseases  are  also  occasionally  amenable  to  the  same 
law ;  and  lastly,  certain  vicious  habits  in  the  parents, 
and  certain  forms  of  neglect  of  natural  laws  and  the 
rules  of  hygiene,  give  rise  to  certain  transformations 
and  degenerations,  both  of  a  physical  and  a  moral  nature, 
in  the  offspring,  which  exercise  the  gravest  influence  over 
the  future  of  these  beings,  who  may  almost  be  said 
to  be  foredoomed  to  an  unfortunate  existence  ;  but  from 
which  they  are  occasionally  exempted  in  accordance  with 
the  law  of  spontaneous  variation  already  alluded  to  ;  or 
which  is  averted  by  the  rational  means  suggested  by  an 
intelligent  recognition  of  the  source  of  such  defects  of 
nature.  I  proceed  to  notice  in  order  these  various 
heritages. 

Personal  resemblance  between  parents  and  offspring 
need  not  detain  us  long ;  the  experience  of  every  day 
shows  that  children  resemble  their  parents  as  strongly 
as  in  type  they  resemble  the  species,  and  no  illustrations 
seem  requisite.  Yet  there  is  something  interesting  in 
the  manner  in  which  some  characteristic  feature  is 
handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another,  some- 
times for  centuries.  Not  to  mention  but  in  passing  the 
descendants  of  Abraham;  and  the  gypsies,  in  which 
tribes  a  distinctive  physiognomy  appears  ever  to  prevail ; 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  21 

we  see  in  some  noble  or  royal  houses  one  particular  fea- 
ture adhering  to  them  as  a  characteristic.  The  Bourbons 
have  an  aquiline  nose  ;  and  the  reigning  house  of  Aus- 
tria is  distinguished  by  a  thick  lip,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  introduced  by  the  marriage  of  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian with  Mary  of  Burgundy,  upwards  of  three  cen- 
turies ago.  Burton 5  remarks  :  "  That  famous  family 
of  (Enobarbi  were  known  of  old,  and  so  surnamed  from 
their  red  beards ;  the  Austrian  lip  and  those  Indian  flat 
noses  are  propagated,  the  Bavarian  chin,  and  goggle  eyes 
amongst  the  Jews,  as  Buxtorfius  observes ;  their  voice, 
pace,  gesture,  looks,  are  likewise  derived  with  all  the  rest 
of  their  conditions  and  infirmities."  Plutarch  relates 
that  all  the  members  of  a  certain  family  in  Thebes  were 
born  with  the  mark  of  a  lance-head  upon  the  body.  It 
is  said  that  the  family  of  the  Lansadas  were  so  named 
from  a  like  peculiarity.  The  Bentivoglios  had  all  a  distin- 
guishing mark. 

Stature  is  in  many  cases  hereditary,  which  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  numerous  gigantic  figures  both  of  men 
and  women  met  with  in  Potsdam,  where  for  fifty  years 
the  guards  of  the  late  Frederick  William  of  Prussia  were 
quartered ;  a  fact  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  intermar- 
riages of  these  men  with  the  women  of  the  city.  The 
giant  Chang,  now  (1869)  exhibiting  in  London,  eight  feet 
six  inches  in  height,  states  that  his  father  was  nine  feet 
high.  Haller  states  that  for  three  generations  his  own 
family,  without  one  exception,  had  been  distinguished  for 
great  stature.  The  facts  connected  with  bodily  develop- 
ment are  well  known  to  all  breeders  of  cattle  or  ani- 
mals ;  so  strictly  is  each  part  of  the  conformation  under 
the  law  of  heritage,  that,  at  will,  the  breeder  can  mod- 
ify a  race,  by  lengthening  or  shortening  the  limbs,  by  in- 
creasing or  diminishing  the  fat  or  the  muscle,  or  by  ac- 
cumulating these  in  particular  localities ;  and  all  these 


22  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

with  almost  certainty  of  calculation.  In  this  manner  is 
the  length  of  stride  of  the  English  racer  attained,  the 
colossal  strength  of  the  dray-horse,  and  the  development 
of  fat  in  the  beasts  intended  for  the  show  or  market. 
The  same  may  be  said  concerning  the  color  of  the  sur- 
face, and  the  tegumentary  appendages,  such  as  hair, 
wool,  &c.,  all  of  which  may  be  modified  at  will,  and  al- 
most to  any  extent,  by  attention  to  simple  rules,  all 
founded  upon  the  one  fact  of  the  constancy  of  transmis- 
sion of  qualities.  The  color  is  generally  a  mixture  of 
that  of  the  parents,  if  these  be  of  different  races ;  but 
if  the  parents  be  of  the  same  race,  the  color  of  the 
children  generally  follows  one  or  other  parent  exclusive- 
ly. Thus,  the  child  of  a  white  man  and  a  negro  woman 
is  a  mulatto  in  the  great  majority  of  cases ;  but  the 
child  of  a  dark  and  a  light  parent  of  the  same  variety  is 
usually  like  one  or  other,  and  not  a  mixture. 

Instances  have  been  known  where  the  child  of  a  negro 
and  a  white  has  been  either  black  or  white  entirely  ;  and 
in  one  case  that  is  related  by  Prichard,  the  black  and 
white  color  was  not  mixed,  but  occupied  separate  parts 
of  the  surface.  These  are  singularities  of  which  in  the 
present  state  of  science  no  explanation  can  be  given,  — 
practical  assertions  of  the  laws  of  Diversity.  It  may 
be  added,  that  the  experience  of  breeders  tends  to  show 
that  the  male  parent  exercises  a  much  stronger  influence 
upon  the  color  of  the  offspring  than  the  female.  It  is 
also  supposed  (though  this  should  be  mentioned  with 
doubt  and  hesitation)  that,  so  far  as  organization  gen- 
erally is  concerned,  the  male  parent  gives  the  locomotive 
system,  and  the  female  the  vital  organs.  Could  this  be 
established  as  a  law,  it  would  indeed  be  an  important 
point  of  departure  for  further  investigations.  At  present 
it  must  be  considered  as  only  sub  judice ;  but  as  an 
opinion  proceeding  from  high  authority,  worthy  of  much 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  23 

consideration.  My  own  opinion,  founded  upon  long  ob- 
servation, is  strongly  opposed  to  this  view,  or  to  any 
other  that  attaches  special  points  of  organization  to 
either  parent  exclusively.  Whether  in  feature,  forma- 
tion, internal  organization,  or  character,  it  appears  to  me 
clearly  demonstrable,  that  the  parent  possessing  most 
salient  points,  or  special  distinguishing  characteristics, 
has  the  most  constant  and  striking  influence  upon  the 
offspring. 

It  is  not  only  bodily  form  and  color,  but  also  bodily 
activity  and  aptitude,  which  are  heritable.  Striking  in- 
stances of  this  may  be  found  in  the  stud-book,  relating 
to  the  pedigrees  of  horses.  The  winners  of  the  great 
races  are  always  sought  after  to  breed  from.  Eclipse 
was  the  father  of  334  winners,  which  produced  their 
owners  the  sum  of  £  160,000  ;  and  King  Herod,  a  de- 
scendant of  Flying  Childers,  was  the  father  of  497  win- 
ners. In  the  human  subject,  the  muscular  force  and 
activity  are  also  hereditary  ;  in  ancient  times  the  athletes 
were  often  in  families ;  and  now  the  same  tendency  is 
often  seen  to  prevail.  All  writers  treating  of  heritage 
mention  gait,  gesture,  and  attitude  as  subjects  therein 
involved  ;  often  entire  families  are  left-handed,  even  those 
members  who  have  been  withdrawn  from  it  in  infancy. 
M.  Girou  relates  a  singular  instance  of  this  kind  of  pecu- 
liarity. "  G.  is  born  of  a  family  where  the  use  of  the 
left  hand  is  hereditary  :  he  is  not  left-handed  himself, 
but  he  has  a  married  daughter  who  is  so,  and  all  of 
whose  children  are  so  likewise.  His  son  who  is  married 
is  not  left-handed,  but  has  a  little  daughter  in  the  cradle 
who  is  so  to  a  strongly  marked  extent."  The  same 
authority  mentions  the  case  of  a  gentleman  who  always 
crossed  the  right  leg  over  the  left  in  bed  :  his  infant 
daughter  did  the  same  from  birth.  "  This  boy  "  (says  Dr. 
Holmes)  "  sits  with  his  legs  crossed,  just  as  his  uncle, 


24  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

whom  he  never  saw,  used  to  sit ;  his  grandfathers  both 
died  before  he  was  born,  but  he  has  the  movement  of 
the  eyebrows  which  we  remember  in  one  of  them,  and 
the  gusty  temper  of  the  other."  Grace  and  elegance  of 
motion  seem  to  be  the  birthright  of  some  families ;  of 
this,  the  family  of  Vestris  will  furnish  an  example.  As 
a  part  of  the  motor  functions,  we  may,  in  passing,  allude 
to  the  heritage  of  voice  so  frequently  observed,  —  also, 
though  perhaps  somewhat  out  of  place,  to  the  heritage 
of  loquacity  ;  children  born  of  very  talkative  parents  are 
usually  so  themselves,  —  they  talk  for  the  sake  of  talk- 
ing, apparently  moved  by  an  elastic  impulse  that  they 
cannot  control.  M.  Lucas  relates  an  instance  of  a  ser- 
vant-girl, who  talked  incessantly  either  to  others  or  to 
herself,  until  it  was  found  necessary  to  dismiss  her  ;  when 
she  exclaimed  :  "  Mais,  monsieur,  ce  n'est  pas  ma  faute, 
ce  n'est  pas  ma  faute  :  cela  me  vient  de  mon  pere,  dont 
le  meme  defaut  desesperait  ma  mere,  et  il  avait  un  frere 
qui  etait  comme  moi." 

Near  me  is  seated  a  visitor  from  a  distant  continent, 
where  she  was  born  and  educated.  The  portrait  of  a  re- 
mote ancestress,  far  back  in  the  last  century,  hangs  upon 
the  wall.  In  every  feature,  one  is  an  accurate  present- 
ment of  the  other,  although  the  one  never  left  England, 
and  the  other  was  American  by  birth  and  half  parentage. 
My  own  children  are  continually  startling  me  by  repro- 
ducing the  very  words,  gestures,  and  motor  tendencies 
which  were  my  own  forty  years  ago. 

The  resemblance  of  internal  organization  is  fully  as 
striking  as  that  of  external  form  between  parents  and 
children,  though  of  course  not  so  plainly  recognizable. 
It  is  observed,  however,  in  the  hereditary  liability  to 
certain  forms  of  disease  or  functional  derangement :  these 
are,  according  to  Portal,  apoplexy,  epilepsy,  mental  ab- 
erration, hemorrhages,  special  inflammations,  and  other 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  25 

disorders  arising  from  hereditary  superabundance  of 
blood, — derangements  of  the  liver,  and  of  the  lymphatic 
and  nervous  systems,  producing  their  appropriate  mor- 
bid effects.  To  some  of  these  I  may  have  occasion  to 
refer ;  here  I  quote  for  purposes  of  illustration  a  remark- 
able case  of  hereditary  hemorrhage  or  bleeding,  as  indi- 
cating transmission  of  internal  organization.  It  is  related 
by  Dr.  Riecken  :  — 

"  These  cases  occurred  in  the  principality  of  Birken- 
feld,  in  Oldenburg.  The  parents  had  never  been  subject 
to  hemorrhage,  and  the  father,  E.  P.,  was  living  in  good 
health  in  his  eighty-sixth  year  at  the  time  of  the  publi- 
cation of  the  narrative.  The  couple  had  twelve  children, 
five  sons  and  seven  daughters,  of  whom  three  boys  and 
one  girl  died  of  hemorrhage.  Their  youngest  daughter, 
who  had  never  suffered  from  the  disease,  married  a  stout, 
healthy  man,  and  had  six  children,  four  boys  and  two 
girls,  of  whom  three  boys  died  of  hemorrhage." 

To  the  physician  the  knowledge  of  family  tendencies 
is  all-important.  A  very  instructive  instance  occurred 
some  time  ago  in  my  own  experience.  A  gentleman  had 
severe  haemoptysis  at  twenty-one,  which  continued  some 
years.  It  ceased,  and  he  lived  until  seventy  years  of 
age.  His  son  was  similarly  affected  at  the  same  age, 
and  is  still  living,  near  seventy.  The  family  of  the  lat- 
ter have  each  one,  as  they  approached  that  period  of 
life,  been  affected  either  in  the  same  way,  or  one  equiva- 
lent. These  symptoms,  which  in  other  persons  would 
have  borne  the  very  gravest  significance,  were  seen  by  the 
light  of  the  family  history  to  be  only  transitory  and 
comparatively  unimportant  phenomena,  and  were  as 
such  explained  to  the  parents,  to  their  great  consolation. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  that  feebleness  and 
force  of  constitution  are,  as  might  be  expected,  gene- 
rally hereditary. 


26  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

Fecundity  is  also  hereditary.  M.  Girou  gives  some 
remarkable  illustrations  of  the  prolific  tendencies  of  cer- 
tain families.  One  mother  had  twenty-four  children  ; 
of  these,  five  daughters  had  forty-six  children,  and  one 
grand-daughter  had  sixteen.  I  am  acquainted  with  sev- 
eral generations  of  one  very  prolific  family  ;  in  one 
branch  of  it  twenty-two  children  were  born  to  the  same 
father  and  mother  in  less  than  fifteen  years.  Dr.  Virey 
gives  an  account  of  families  in  which  the  tendency  to 
producing  twins  is  strong;  in  one,  two  twin  brothers 
had  repeatedly  twins  in  both  their  families ;  and  the  first 
wife  of  one  being  dead,  the  second  had  twins  also.  Osi- 
ander  relates  still  more  extraordinary  facts,  but  I  cannot 
dwell  longer  upon  this  part  of  the  subject. 

Idiosyncrasies  are  notoriously  hereditary ;  in  some 
entire  families  the  slightest  amount  of  opium  or  of  mer- 
cury acts  as  a  virulent  poison  ;  in  one  family  mentioned 
by  Zimmerman,  coffee  produced  the  effect  of  opium, 
whilst  this  was  inert.  Montaigne,  in  his  quaint  style, 
alludes  to  his  own  and  his  family's  idiosyncrasy  of  a  dis- 
like to  physic  and  physicians.  One  of  his  ancestors  was 
assured  that  if  he  would  not  have  some  assistance  he 
would  die.  Alarmed  at  this  sentence,  he  answered, 
"  Je  suis  doncques  mart!"  Montaigne  considers  that  his 
own  dislike  to  medicine  descended  from  this  person. 
Longevity  evinces  a  tendency  to  run  in  families ;  a  large 
collection  of  cases  illustrative  of  this  point  may  be  found 
in  M.  Lejoncourt's  "  Galerie  des  Centenaires."  I  will 
only  quote  two  or  three  instances.  In  a  marshy  coun- 
try, near  the  Rhone,  lived  five  persons,  brothers  and 
sisters,  of  the  same  father  and  mother,  whose  united 
ages  amounted  to  430  years ;  the  eldest  was  ninety-two, 
and  the  others  followed  alternately,  male  and  female,  at 
intervals  of  three  years  each  exactly.  At  the  time  of 
the  account  being  written,  all  were  in  good  health. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  27 

M.  Lucas  mentions  Madame  de  Montgolfier,  in  Paris,  as 
still  full  of  life,  aged  110  years,  and  the  mother  of  living 
children  of  more  than  eighty.  A  well-known  literary 
character,  M.  Quersonnieres,  was  still  alive  in  1842, 
aged  114,  in  perfect  enjoyment  of  his  faculties.  He 
said  :  "  My  family  descends  from  Methuselah ;  we  must 
be  killed,  to  die ;  my  maternal  grandfather  was  killed  by 
accident  at  125  years  of  age,  and  I,"  he  added,  smiling, 
"  invite  you  to  my  burial  in  the  next  century."  The 
facts  connected  with  hereditary  longevity  are  sufficiently 
well  ascertained  to  have  become  an  important  element 
in  the  calculations  of  the  actuaries  for  insurance  socie- 
ties. 

Departures  from  the  specific  type  of  the  race,  either 
by  excess  or  arrest  of  development,  are  transmissible  by 
generation.  That  singular  monstrosity  called  albinism, 
consisting  in  an  absence  of  coloring-matter  from  the 
skin,  hair,  and  eyes,  to  which  all  races  of  men,  black, 
white,  or  yellow,  and  many  animals  are  subject,  is  often 
hereditary  ;  although,  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  Diver- 
sity, by  which  nature  is  enabled  to  restore  the  primitive 
type,  the  children  of  albinos  with  another  stock  are  often 
without  trace  of  that  affection.  Melanism,  the  converse 
of  albinism,  or  the  excess  of  coloring-matter  in  the  skin, 
sometimes  a  normal  and  sometimes  a  morbid  occurrence, 
is  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  regards  its  propagation. 
Other  arrests  of  formation,  such  as  hare-lip,  and  imper- 
fections of  the  spinal  column  (spina  bifida),  are  also  often 
transmitted  from  parent  to  child.  Of  all  these  ample 
illustrations  may  be  found  in  Buffon,  St.  Hilaire,  and  the 
special  treatises  on  monstrosities. 

Superfluity  of  parts  or  organs,  as  the  presence  of  six 
fingers  or  six  toes  on  each  extremity,  is  not  a  very  un- 
common occurrence,  and  usually  is  observed  for  two  or 
three  generations.  Sir  A.  Carlisle  relates  several  instan- 


28  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ces  of  this  nature,  and  Pliny  also  noticed  it  amongst  the 
Romans..  Lawrence  remarks  on  these  anomalies,  that  "  if 
the  six-fingered  and  six-toed  could  be  matched  together, 
and  the  breed  could  be  preserved  pure  by  excluding  all 
who  had  not  these  additional  members,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  a  permanent  race  might  be  formed,  constantly  pos- 
sessing this  number  of  fingers  and  toes." 

With  regard  to  accidental  physical  defects,  such  as 
the  loss  of  a  limb  or  an  organ,  the  ordinary  rule  is,  that 
such  defect  is  not  propagated,  yet  instances  are  not 
wanting  where  such  is  the  case.  Mr.  Whitehead 6  re- 
lates that  the  father  of  three  healthy  children  lost  a  limb 
by  an  accident  in  a  coal-mine,  and  the  next  child  born 
to  him  had  shortening  and  defective  power  in  the  corre- 
sponding limb.  M.  Pichard  relates  that  a  stallion  which 
had  gone  blind  from  disease  had  offspring  which  all 
went  blind  before  they  were  three  years  old.  This,  how- 
ever, cannot  be  considered  as  the  propagation  of  an  ac- 
cidental defect,  but  rather  the  transmission  of  a  distinct 
organic  tendency  to  special  disease.  It  is  said  that 
horses  "  marked  during  successive  generations  with  red- 
hot  iron  in  the  same  place,  transmit  the  visible  traces 
of  such  marks  to  their  colts."  Every  modification  of 
the  senses  is  liable  to  reproduction,  —  blindness,  long  or 
short  sight,  quick  or  slow  hearing,  absence  or  acuteness 
of  smell,  «fec.;  particular  tendencies  also  in  the  indul- 
gence of  the  tastes,  and  special  idiosyncrasies,  are  family 
heritages.  St.  Simon  relates,  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  that 
Louis  XIV.  was  voracious  and  gluttonous  to  an  extreme, 
and  that  all  his  family  inherited  the  tendency  from  him. 
M.  Lucas  says  that  he  is  acquainted  with  a  family  who 
never  drink  water  in  any  form,  and  have  the  strongest 
repugnance  to  all  fluids.  Disgust  to  particular  food 
runs  also  in  families.  The  authority  last  quoted  relates, 
amongst  other  instances,  one  in  which,  from  generation 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  29 

to  generation,  there  was  the  most  unconquerable  aver- 
sion to  the  taste,  or  even  smell,  of  cheese.  Some  have  an 
equally  unaccountable  inability  to  eat  any  animal  food, 
a  tendency  which  is  hereditary  :  of  this  an  instance  is 
mentioned  in  the  Gazette  des  Tribunaux,  1844.  The 
most  frightful  perversions  of  taste  are  likewise  transmis- 
sible from  parent  to  child.  Boethius  mentions  the  case 
of  a  young  girl  whose  father  had  the  horrible  propensity 
of  eating  human  flesh.  The  father  and  mother  were 
both  burned  to  death  before  the  girl  was  a  year  old ;  the 
girl  was  brought  up  in  plenty  and  amidst  respectable 
people,  yet  she  also  gave  way  to  this  disgusting  and  un- 
natural practice. 

I  pass  briefly  over  these  evidences  of  corporeal  and 
sensorial  inheritance,  as  little  likely  to  be  contested,  in 
order  to  be  able  more  fully  to  enter  upon  the  more  im- 
portant branch  of  the  subject,  and  the  one  which  is 
most  warmly  disputed,  —  the  inheritance  of  intellectual 
and  moral  qualities. 

Reproduction  may  be  considered  in  three  lights,  as 
regards  the  species,  the  race,  and  the  individual  or  fam- 
ily. The  psychical  qualities  of  the  species,  it  will  readily 
be  admitted,  are  constant,  —  as  constant  as  the  organi- 
zation. The  dog  is  always  a  dog  in  its  instincts  and  its 
intelligence,  and  never  a  squirrel  or  a  sheep ;  the  bee  is 
always  a  bee,  and  never  assumes  the  modes  of  life  of 
the  spider.  In  regard  to  races,  there  is  always  the 
same  well-marked  difference  between  their  instinctive 
and  rational  endowments.  Though  descended  from  one 
common  stock,  the  spaniel,  the  pointer,  and  the  shep- 
herd's dog  have  different  -instincts,  each  one  adapted  to 
a  special  end,  one  never  naturally  adopting  the  other's 
habits.  Mr.  Knight  says  that  the  young  terrier  r  shows 
every  mark  of  anger  when  it  first  sees  a  polecat,  whilst 
the  spaniel  looks  on  with  indifference,  but  will  pursue 


30  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

a  woodcock  at  once.  "A  young  pointer  which  had 
never  seen  a  partridge  stood  trembling  with  anxiety,  its 
eyes  fixed,  its  muscles  rigid,  when  conducted  into  the 
midst  of  a  covey  of  these  birds."  The  buffalo,  the  ox, 
the  bison,  all  are  distinct  in  their  psychical  nature  :  and 
the  African  and  Asiatic  elephant  differ  so  completely  in 
mental  manifestations,  that,  although  so  similar  in  or- 
ganization, they  have  been  considered  as  distinct  species. 
The  various  races  of  men  have  characteristics  quite  as 
distinctly  marked  ;  the  red,  the  white,  the  yellow  man, 
all  comport  themselves  in  a  different  and  strikingly  con- 
trasted manner,  when  brought  into  contact  with  the 
white  man  and  his  civilization.  Neither  will  these  dif- 
ferences disappear  by  custom  ;  the  sombre  red  man  and 
the  volatile  negro  are  alike  incapable  of  assimilation  to 
the  European  nature.  But  races  consist  of  aggregations 
of  individuals  ;  it  is  clear,  therefore,  that  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent individuals  have  the  power  of  transmitting  their 
own  specific  psychical  nature.  How  far  this  extends  to 
the  minute  traits  of  special  character  is  the  object  of 
our  inquiry. 

1.  Has  the  education  of  the  parent  any  influence  over 
the  capacity  of  the  offspring  ?  —  The  weight  of  evidence 
direct  and  analogical  is  strongly  in  favor  of  an  affirma- 
tive answer. 

In  domestic  animals  the  phenomena  appear  to  be  clear 
and  indubitable  in  their  testimony.  Dogs  descended 
from  parents  that  have  been  trained  to  certain  pursuits 
assume  the  same  habits  either  without  education,  or 
with  very  much  less  than  those  whose  parents  had  been 
neglected.  The  pointer  whose  parents  have  for  genera- 
tions been  trained  for  purposes  of  sport,  will  take  to 
pointing  almost  without  any  instruction,  further  than 
what  is  necessary  to  quell  the  exuberance  of  youth  ; 
whilst  one  descended  from  parents  that  had  not  been  so 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  31 

exercised,  will  require  great  care  and  pains  to  teach  it 
its  duties.  The  same  is  observable  in  quite  as  marked 
a  degree  in  the  sheep-dog.  Dogs  that  have  been  trained 
to  hunt  the  peccari  have  offspring  that  seem  from  the 
first  attempt  to  understand  the  proper  (and  very  pecu- 
liar) mode  of  attack,  whilst  another  and  much  stronger 
dog  is  destroyed  at  once  by  this  savage  creature.  A  St. 
Bernard  dog,  born  in  London,  is  said  to  have  begun  to 
track  footsteps  in  the  snow,  after  the  manner  of  its 
parents.  It  is  said  that  dogs  do  not  bark  (but  only 
howl)  in  the  wild  state,  and  that  the  bark  is  an  imita- 
tion of  the  human  voice  :  but  the  pup  of  the  tame  dog 
barks,  though  it  may  never  have  heard  a  similar  sound. 
It  is  also  asserted  that  birds  on  an  uninhabited  island 
show  no  fear  of  man  ;  but  the  young  of  those  born 
amongst  man  always  fly  from  him.  Other  illustrations 
might  easily  be  accumulated  from  other  species ;  but 
these  are  sufficient  to  indicate  the  great  probability 
that  in  animals  not  only  original  aptitudes  and  faculties 
are  inherited,  but  also  such  as  are  acquired  by  educa- 
tion. A  writer  in  the  Westminster  Review,  1858,  gave 
an  amusing  and  striking  instance  of  the  transmission  of 
acquired  habits.  He  says  :  "The  writer  had  a  puppy, 
taken  from  its  mother  at  six  weeks  old,  who,  although 
never  taught  to  beg  (an  accomplishment  his  mother  had 
been  taught),  spontaneously  took  to  begging  for  every- 
thing he  wanted,  when  about  seven  or  eight  months  old ; 
he  would  beg  for  food,  beg  to  be  let  out  of  the  room, 
and  one  day  was  found  opposite  the  rabbit-hutch,  beg- 
ging for  the  rabbits." 

2.  But  is  the  case  the  same  with  men,  as  tvith  animals  ?  — 
This  is  denied  by  some  writers,  as  has  been  before  re- 
marked ;  not  because  of  any  lack  of  conclusive  evidence, 
but  because  an  acknowledgment  of  the  principle  would 
necessitate  logically  the  recognition  of  moral  heritage, 


32  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

which  they  are  determined  not  to  admit.  M.  Lordat 
writes  as  follows  :  "  L'education  de  1'homme  ne  s'applique 
point  a  la  meme  puissance  que  1'education  des  betes ; 
tandis  que  les  bienfaits  de  1'education  profitent,  chez 
I'animal,  a  1'education  de  ses  descendants,  les  avantages 
de  1'education  d'un  homme  ne  sont  d'aucune  utilite  physi- 
ologique  pour  son  fils  on  pour  sa  posterite  ;  quelle  que  soit 
1'origine  d'un  homme,  quels  qu'aient  ete  merites  de  ces 
ancetres,  quoi  qu'aient  pu  faire  la  societe  et  1'opinion  pour 
les  illustrer,  son  education  particuliere  ne  peut  pas  etre 
moins  laborieuse  que  celle  de  ses  a'ieux."  Whether  this 
be  scientific  or  not  may  admit  of  doubt  ;  its  non-accord- 
ance with  observation  will  appear.  The  question  be- 
comes one  of  fact,  experience,  or  testimony,  to  which 
we  must  appeal.  The  child  of  Indian  parents  will  natu- 
rally adopt  forest  habits  to  an  extent  and  with  a  skill 
altogether  foreign  to  a  white  child,  although  both  may 
have  been  brought  up  from  earliest  infancy  in  the  same 
manner.  At  their  first  association  with  civilized  people, 
savages  and  their  children  show  an  untamable  and  un- 
teachable  spirit ;  but  after  one  or  two  generations,  during 
which  efforts  at  instruction  have  been  partially  successful, 
the  young  children  indicate  not  only  more  docility  but 
much  greater  aptitude  to  learn.  Dr.  Moore  observes, 
that  "  our  education  may  be  said  to  begin  with  our  fore- 
fathers. The  child  of  the  morally  instructed  is  most 
capable  of  instruction,  and  intellectual  excellence  is 
generally  the  result  of  ages  of  mental  cultivation.  From 
Mr.  Kay  Shuttleworth's  examination  of  juvenile  delin- 
quents at  Parkhurst,  it  appears  that  the  majority  were 
deficient  in  physical  organization,  and  this,  no  doubt,  was 
traceable  to  the  parent  stock."  Sir  A.  Carlisle  says  that 
many  years  since  an  old  schoolmaster  had  told  him  that, 
in  the  course  of  his  personal  experience,  he  had  observed 
a  remarkable  difference  in  the  capacities  of  children  for 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  33 

learning,  which  was  connected  with  the  education  and 
aptitude  of  their  parents;  that  the  children  of  people 
accustomed  to  arithmetic  learned  figures  quicker  than 
those  of  differently  educated  persons ;  while  the  children 
of  classical  scholars  more  easily  learned  Latin  and  Greek ; 
and  that,  notwithstanding  a  few  striking  exceptions,  the 
natural  dulness  of  children  born  of  uneducated  parents 
was  proverbial.  Mr.  Knight,  a  very  high  authority  upon 
questions  of  this  nature,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Alexander 
Walker,  says :  — 

"  I,  seventy  years  ago,  heard  an  old  schoolmaster  re- 
mark, in  speaking  of  my  late  brother's  (the  well-known 
Mr.  Payne  Knight)  great  facility  of  learning  languages, 
that,  in  fifty  years'  experience,  he  had  never  known  a 
child  of  wholly  illiterate  parentage  and  ancestry  (such 
being  at  that  time  very  abundant)  who  could  learn 
languages.  Being  in  my  parish  church,  about  ten  years 
ago,  a  little  girl,  in  repeating  her  catechism,  got  through 
her  part  in  half  the  time  that  her  companions  did,  and 
without  missing  or  hesitating  about  a  single  word.  She 
was  wholly  unknown  to  me  ;  but  I  whispered  to  Mrs. 
Knight,  '  That  girl  is  a  gentleman's  daughter.'  And  so 
she  proved  to  be I  believe  that  most  of  the  experi- 
ments in  breeding  which  have  been  accurately  made  and 
accurately  reported  have  been  made  either  by  Sir  John 
Sebright  or  by  myself ;  and  it  is  somewhat  singular  that 
we  both  descend  from  the  same  grandfather,  his  mother 
having  been  a  daughter  of  my  father's  brother.  We  were, 
however,  unacquainted  in  early  life,  and  neither  of  us 
was  influenced  in  any  degree  by  the  other  in  our  pursuits. 
....  It  is,  I  think,  important,  that  the  minds  of  the 
ancestry  should  have  been  exercised  in  some  way  ;  and  I 
think  the  hereditary  powers  will  generally  be  found  best 
calculated  to  do  that  which  the  parents,  through  succes- 
sive generations,  have  done." 

2*  o 


34  A   PHYSICIAN'S    PROBLEMS. 

Burdach,  a  most  profound  physiologist,  agrees  that  the 
development  of  the  intellectual  faculties  of  the  parents 
renders  the  children  more  capable  of  receiving  education. 
And  M.  Girou  says  that  "  acquired  capacities  are  trans- 
mitted by  generation,  and  this  transmission  is  more  cer- 
tain and  perfect  in  proportion  as  the  cultivation  has  ex- 
tended over  more  generations,  and  as  that  of  one  parent 
is  less  opposed  by  that  of  the  other.  Children  receive 
from  their  parents,  with  the  impress  of  their  habits,  all 
the  shades  of  capacity,  aptitude,  and  taste  which  have 
been  the  fruit  of  such  habits." 

I  cannot  see  any  reason  for  acknowledging  that  bodily 
habits  and  faculties  are  hereditary,  and  denying  it  in 
regard  to  those  of  the  mind.  Testimony  is  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  view,  and  all  analogical  reasoning  tends  to 
the  same  conclusion.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
in  detail  and  in  individual  cases,  there  is  not  that  kind 
and  amount  of  regularity  which  bespeaks  a  law :  the  law 
of  Diversity  is  very  operative  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
intellect ;  wise  men  have  often  fools  for  their  children, 
and  talent  often  arises  from  a  family  remarkable  only  for 
mediocrity;  there  are,  nevertheless,  phenomena  well 
worthy  of  careful  consideration. 

Not,  perhaps,  strictly  in  place,  yet  as  affording  an 
interesting  illustration  of  the  power  of  habit  in  successive 
generations  in  influencing  organization,  I  quote  this  in- 
stance from  Mr.  Knight :  "  The  following  circumstance, 
which  is  at  least  very  singular,  leads  one  to  suspect  that 
the  kind  of  language  used  by  any  people  through  succes- 
sive generations  might  change  and  modify  the  organs 
of  speech,  though  not  to  an  extent  cognizable  by  the 
anatomist.  A  celebrated  French  civil  engineer,  M.  Polon- 
ceau,  visited  me  some  years  ago,  bringing  with  him  a 
young  French  gentleman  who  spoke  English  eloquently, 
and  perfectly  like  an  Englishman,  though  he  had  been  in 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  35 

England  only  two  years,  and,  as  he  assured  me,  knew 
nothing  of  the  language  previously,  nor  had  ever  heard  it 
spoken.  I  asked  him  whether  he  could  pronounce  the 
English  name  Thistlethwaite,  and  he  instantly  pro- 
nounced it  most  distinctly  and  perfectly.  The  next  day, 
when  talking  of  other  matters,  he  said  that  he  had  some 
Irish  relations,  and  it  appeared  that  his  grandmother,  on 
the  female  side,  whom  he  had  never  seen,  was  an  Irish 
woman.  Hence  arose,  I  do  not  at  all  doubt,  his  power 
of  so  readily  pronouncing  the  word  I  had  prescribed.  A 
French  gentleman  at  Paris  boasted  to  me  that  he  could 
pronounce  correctly  any  English  word.  I  proposed 
Thistlethwaite  to  him,  when,  instead  of  trying,  he  ex- 
claimed, 'Ah,  ba-rbaref" 

Amongst  the  innumerable  intellectual  grades  occupied 
by  humanity,  from  the  feeble  light  which  barely  illumines 
the  first  degree  above  idiocy,  to  the  lofty  capacity  of  the 
poet  or  the  philosopher,  there  is  a  tendency  to  the  trans- 
mission of  similar  qualities  to  the  offspring,  — an  indica- 
tion of  a  law,  however  numerous  the  exceptions.  The 
idiot  almost  always  engenders 7  idiots  ;  no  man  of  talent 
ever  had  an  idiot  or  an  imbecile  for  his  father  or  mother ; 
cretinism,  always  attended  by  a  low  intellectual  develop- 
ment, always  produces  the  same,  unless  one  of  the  parents 
be  vigorous  and  healthy  enough  to  modify  the  tendency. 
Imbecility,  independent  of  cretinism,  also  is  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation.  Haller  cites  the  instances 
of  two  ladies  of  noble  family  who  were  nearly  imbecile, 
but  were  married  for  their  wealth  ;  and  when  he  wrote, 
a  century  afterwards,  the  same  grade  of  intelligence  was 
manifest  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  generations.  It  is  mat- 
ter of  daily  observation,  that  the  ordinary  run  of  children 
have  about  the  same  intellectual  capacities  as  their  par- 
ents, one  or  both ;  the  education  may  be  different,  but 
the  original  nature  seems  to  be  about  the  same  standard. 


36  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

This  does  not  apply  to  those  instances  where  continual 
culture  for  successive  generations  tends  to  exalt  the  in- 
tellectual powers.  As  we  ascend  the  scale,  we  cannot 
fail  to  perceive  how  comparatively  rare  it  is  to  meet  with 
but  one  distinguished  person  in  any  given  family.  Many 
of  our  statesmen  have  illustrated  this  position  ;  —  the 
legislative  faculty  has  descended  from  father  to  son  in 
very  many  cases  in  our  history.  It  would  not  be  diffi- 
cult to  point  to  instances  in  our  own  government,  where 
the  forms  and  practice  of  legislation  have  been  intui- 
tive, in  as  remarkable  a  degree  as  in  the  two  Pitts  and 
the  two  Foxes.  The  two  Scaligers,  the  two  Vossiuses,  the 
two  Herschels,  the  two  Coleridges,  the  Malesherbes,  the 
father  and  son  Montesquieu,  the  two  Sheridans,  and  the 
Kemble  family,  may  furnish  additional  illustration  as  1o 
how  frequently  talent  is  allied  to  talent.  Mirabeau,  the 
father,  contained,  so  to  speak,  Mirabeau  the  tribune. 
The  family  of  ^Eschylus  numbered  eight  poets.  The 
father  of  Torquato  Tasso  had  the  gift,  as  his  son  had  the 
genius,  of  verse.  This  sort  of  succession  of  gift  or  abil- 
ity in  the  family,  followed  by  genius  in  the  son,  is  not 
rare.  Flaxman  was  the  son  of  a  moulder  of  plaster  casts. 
Thorwaldsen,  the  rival  of  Canova,  was  the  son  of  a  poor 
sculptor.  Raphael's  father  was  himself  a  painter.  The 
mother  of  Vandyke  had  a  talent  for  painting.  Parmi- 
giano  was  of  a  family  of  painters ;  so  was  Titian  ;  so  is 
Horace  Vernet.  The  father  of  Mozart  was  a  violinist  of 
some  reputation ;  his  children  inherited  part  of  his  tal- 
ent. Beethoven  was  the  son  of  a  tenor  singer.  A  whole 
host  of  composers  have  emanated  from  the  family  of 
Bach. 

I  would  refer  those  who  are  disposed  to  pursue  this 
branch  of  the  subject  further,  to  three  papers  on  "  He- 
reditary Genius,"  by  Francis  Galton,  F.  R.  S.,  in  Mac- 
millan's  Magazine.  The  last  appeared  in  March,  1869. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  37 

In  these  will  be  found  an  overwhelming  accumulation  of 
facts,  and  some  most  interesting  views  and  comments 
upon  them. 

There  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  note  concerning  the 
scale  of  intellectual  development,  viz.  that  the  extremes 
are  solitary,  i.  e.  do  not  transmit  their  characteristics. 
The  lowest  grade  of  intellect,  the  perfect  idiot,  is  unfruit- 
ful :  the  highest  genius  is  unfruitful,  as  regards  its  psy- 
chical character  :  true  genius  does  not  descend  to  pos- 
terity ;  there  may  be  talent  and  ability  in  the  ancestry, 
and  in  the  descendants,  directed  to  the  same  pursuits 
even  ;  but  from  the  time  that  the  development  culmi- 
nates in  true  genius,  it  begins  to  wane.  I  am  acquainted 
with  a  family  descended  in  the  third  generation  from  a 
true  musical  genius.  Of  the  numerous  branches,  scarcely 
one  is  deficient  in  some  amount  of  musical  taste  and 
ability,  but  none  have  a  shadow  of  the  genius  of  the 
grandfather. 

The  development  of  intellectual  gifts  has  been  by  some 
supposed  to  follow  a  law  of  increase,  culmination,  and 
decay  in  races,  strictly  analogous  to  that  which  is  ob- 
served in  individuals  ;  and  as  it  is  seen  in  these  latter 
to  rise  and  decay  even  before  the  decay  of  the  body,  so 
in  the  former  it  seems  to  culminate  and  to  wane  before 
the  extinction  of  the  race.  The  learned  author  of  the 
"  Theatrum  Tngenii  Humani "  applied  this  view  to  the 
phenomena  of  the  ascension  and  the  falling  away  of  cer- 
tain dynasties.  "  It  is  worthy  of  remark,"  he  says,  "  that 
the  ascending  movement  of  the  higher  faculties  of  a  great 
number  of  founders  of  races  generally  is  arrested  at  the 
third,  rarely  continues  to  the  fourth,  and  scarcely  in  a 
solitary  instance  passes  beyond  the  fifth  generation." 
Illustrations  are  taken  from  the  race  of  Charlemagne,  of 
Capet,  and  of  the  Guises.  "  Atque  ideo  quidem  certa  est 
ilia  paternse  indolis  in  posteritatem  transitio  ut,  in  claris 


38  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

familiis,  ilia  suos  veluti  natales  habeat,  et  sumpto  incre- 
mento,  adolescat  et,  senior  confecta,  deficiat  et  commori- 
atur.  Eximit  se  subito  aliqua  de  vulgo  familia,  et  se- 
i-undus  gratisu  aiiris,  ad  conspicuam  Ivicem,  ab  ignotis 
tenebris  emergit.  Eadem,  statim  obsolescente  venusta- 
tis  splendore,  vix  majorum  gloriam  tuetur."  Thus  illus- 
trious gifts  die  from  out  the  family,  which  only  lives  now 
in  the  glory  of  its  ancestry  ;  and  whilst  ancient  races 
decay,  new  ones  arise  to  preserve  the  equilibrium  of 
society. 

3.  Is  the  moral  nature  of  man  subject  to  hereditary  law  ? 
—  Yes,  with  the  limitations  before  hinted  at;  the  propensi- 
ties and  tendencies  to  particular  forms  of  virtue  and  vice 
are  hereditary,  but  not  the  acts  themselves  ;  man's  freedom 
is  not  obliterated,  but  he  is  destined  to  a  life  of  more 
or  less  strife  and  temptation,  according  as  his  inherited 
dispositions  are  active  and  vicious,  or  the  contrary. 
Every  sane  man  knows  that,  despite  of  allurement  or 
temptation,  he  can  do  or  leave  undone  any  given  act  ; 
he  is  therefore  free,  but  his  freedom  is  more  or  less  in- 
vaded, in  accordance  with  the  laws  under  consideration. 
As  it  is  well  and  tersely  remarked  by  Mr.  Lecky : 8 
"  There  are  men  whose  whole  lives  are  spent  in  willing 
one  thing  and  desiring  the  opposite." 

It  is  well  known  that  the  temper  of  horses  and  dogs  is 
constantly  transmitted.  BufFon  remarked  that  an  angry, 
restive  stallion  produced  foals  of  the  same  disposition, 
even  manifested  in  the  precise  modes  of  biting  and  kick- 
ing, &c.,  which  distinguished  the  parent.  The  Hungarian 
stallion,  the  Savage,  aiid  Jupiter,  both  produced  colts  as 
wild  as  themselves.  Dogs  inherit  the  temper  of  their 
parents,  and  even  in  some  cases  their  unnatural  fears,  as 
when  a  pointer  fears  the  sound  of  a  gun,  of  which  an 
instance  is  mentioned  by  M.  Girou. 

As  in  the  case  of  intellect,  so,  and  on  the  same  author- 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  39 

ity,  it  is  disputed  that  the  laws  of  animal  morale  are  any 
guide  to  those  of  man.  Where  analogy  is  rejected,  it  is 
necessary  to  appeal  to  direct  testimony,  and  this  will  not 
be  found  wanting.  There  are  those  who  still  maintain 
the  tabula  rasa  theory,  that  all  children  are  born  alike, 
morally  and  intellectually  ;  and  that  the  differences 
between  them  afterwards  result  from  the  different  phys- 
ical and  moral  media  by  which  they  have  been  surrounded. 
By  rejecting  and  denying  facts  and  observations,  this 
position  might  be  supported  ;  but  the  careful  observer 
can  no  more  accept  this  theory,  than  he  could  believe 
that  all  children  were  born  equally  viable,  and  with  equal 
strength  of  muscle  or  constitution. 

Children  inherit  the  evil  tendencies  of  their  parents, 
and  not  unfrequently  the  mark  of  these  tendencies  is 
written  in  evident  characters  on  the  organization.  Fer- 
nelius  truly  observes,  that  "  it  is  the  greatest  part  of  our 
felicity  to  be  well  born  ;  and  it  were  happy  for  human- 
kind if  only  such  parents  as  are  sound  of  body  and  mind 
should  be  suffered  to  marry  " ;  and  Lemnius  asserts  that 
the  "  very  affections  follow  their  seed,  and  the  malice  and 
bad  conditions  of  children  are  many  times  wholly  to  be 
imputed  to  their  parents."  Speaking  of  the  House  of 
Brunswick,  Lord  Granville  said  :  "  This  family  always  has 
quarrelled,  and  always  will  quarrel,  from  generation  to 
generation"  ;  a  fact  which  he  attributed  to  some  natural 
peculiarity  of  the  illustrious  race.  Lord  Macaulay  can- 
not "  quite  admit  his  explanation  ;  but  the  fact  is  indis- 
putable. Since  the  accession  of  George  I.  there  have 
been  four  Princes  of  Wales,  and  they  have  all  been 
almost  constantly  in  opposition."9  All  the  passions 
appear  to  be  distinctly  hereditary  ;  anger,  fear,  envy, 
jealousy,  libertinage,  gluttony,  drunkenness  ;  —  all  are 
liable  to  be  transmitted  to  the  offspring,  especially  if 
both  parents  are  alike  affected  ;  and  this,  as  has  often 


40  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS 

been  proved,  not  by  force  of  example  or  education  merely, 
but  by  direct  constitutional  inheritance. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these,  and  the  most 
easily  illustrated,  is  that  of  the  heritage  of  drunken- 
ness. Ebrii  gignunt  ebrios,  says  Plutarch.  Gall  relates 
the  case  of  a  Russian  family  where  the  father  and  grand- 
father had  both  died  prematurely  from  the  effects  of 
intoxication,  and  the  grandson  manifested  from  the  age 
of  five  years  the  most  decided  taste  for  strong  liquors. 
M.  Girou  relates  instances  where  the  tendency  was  trans- 
mitted through  the  mothers.  A  recent  writer  in  the 
Psychological  Journal  says  :  "  The  most  startling  prob- 
lem connected  with  intemperance  is,  that  not  only  does 
it  affect  the  health,  morals,  and  intelligence  of  the  off- 
spring of  its  votaries,  but  they  also  inherit  the  fatal  ten- 
dency, and  feel  a  craving  for  the  very  beverages  which  have 
acted  as  poisons  on  their  system  from  the  commencement  of 
their  being  !  "  Some  illustrations  are  given  by  the  same 

writer.     Mr.  J was  an  habitual  drunkard  :  his  wife 

also  had  a  stomach  complaint,  for  which  she  took  spirits  : 
her  medicine  was  never  neglected.  Both  died  confirmed 
drunkards^  and  all  the  children  did  so  likewise.  "They 
said,  u  We  can't  help  it ;  we  inherit  a  strong  love  for 
rum  or  gin."  One  bound  himself  by  a  heavy  penalty, 
but  after  some  months'  abstinence  broke  out,  saying  that 
the  craving  was  actual  torture,  and  he  could  not  help  him- 
self. Mr.  B ,  of  Yorkshire,  and  his  wife,  were  scarce- 
ly ever  sober  :  the  lady  died  early  of  delirium  tremens, 
but  the  husband  lived  long  in  spite  of  his  tendencies. 
Out  of  a  large  family  of  children,  only  one  escaped  the 
taint  :  the  eldest  son,  an  inveterate  drunkard,  committed 
suicide  ;  and  all  the  others  came  to  an  untimely  end. 
The  only  daughter  was  on  one  occasion  brought  home 
by  the  police  in  a  state  of  intoxication  :  the  shock  was 
too  great  for  the  old  man,  and  he  did  not  survive  it. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  41 

A  frightful  additional  testimony  to  the  ineradicable  na- 
ture of  an  inherited  tendency  to  drink  is  given  by  M. 
Morel,  than  whom  no  living  writer  has  entered  more 
deeply  into  these  important  investigations.  He  says  : 
"  /  have  NEVER  seen  the  patient  cured  of  his  propensity 
whose  tendencies  to  drink  were  derived  from  the  hereditary 
predisposition  given  to  him  by  his  parents"  Mr.  W.  Col- 
lins stated  before  a  Parliamentary  Commission,  as  the 
result  of  his  experience  of  drunkards,  and  as  a  "  well- 
established  physical  fact"  that  the  drunken  appetite, 
when  once  formed,  "  never  becomes  completely  extinct, 
but  adheres  to  a  man  through  life."  Dr.  Hutcheson's 
experience  is  to  the  same  effect.  He  remarks  of  the 
chronic  form  :  "  I  have  seen  only  one  case  completely 
cured,  and  that  after  a  seclusion  of  two  years'  duration. 
In  general  it  is  not  cured ;  and  no  sooner  is  the  patient 
liberated  than  he  manifests  all  the  symptoms  of  the  dis- 
ease. Paradoxical  though  the  statement  may  appear  to 
be,  such  individuals  are  sane  only  when  confined  in  an 
asylum."  The  annals  of  vice  teem  with  illustrations  of 
this  fearful  inheritance  :  in  selecting  cases  there  could 
be  no  difficulty,  save  that  of  choice.  I  am  here  only 
concerned  to  indicate  the  fact  of  this  inheritance  :  I 
shall  hereafter  return  to  it,  to  point  out  the  moral  and 
physical  transformations  produced  in  successive  genera- 
tions under  its  influence.  I  have  before  remarked  upon 
the  heritage  of  gluttony.  The  passion  for  play  is  in- 
herited, like  other  tendencies,  although  it  is  difficult  in 
some  of  these  cases  actually  to  demonstrate  that  evil 
example  has  not  a  great  share  in  the  propagation  of  the 
vice.  A  lady,  spoken  of  by  Da  Gama  Machado,  was 
strongly  addicted  to  play  :  she  died  of  consumption, 
leaving  a  son  and  daughter,  both  of  whom  inherited  the 
same  passion,  and  died  of  the  same  disease.  Libertinage 
is  an  almost  constant  heritage  :  — 10 


42  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

"  Casta  refert  castoe  genitricis  filia  mores, 

Laseiviu  nunyuam  lilia  casta  fuit."  .... 

The  tendency  to  infractions  of  the  laws  for  the  pro- 
tection of  life  and  property  is  also  transmissible  by  gen- 
eration. The  annals  of  our  police  courts  teem  with 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  statement ;  and,  in  many 
of  the  instances  related  by  writers,  the  circumstances 
have  been  such  as  to  exclude  the  argument  of  example  or 
education.  M.  Lucas  quotes  the  case  of  a  woman  who, 
during  her  pregnancies,  was  always  affected  with  a  mono- 
mania for  robbery :  all  her  children  inherited  the  pro- 
pensity. We  cannot  multiply  instances,  but  must  find 
room  for  a  sketch  of  one  family  residing  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Bayeux.  One  had  been  condemned  to  the 
travaux  forces  for  life  for  assassination.  Five  remained, 
—  three  brothers,  one  sister,  and  her  husband.  These 
were  all  convicted  ultimately  of  having  lived  for  years 
upon  the  proceeds  of  their  various  robberies,  and  were 
condemned  accordingly.  An  inquiry  into  the  antece- 
dents of  this  family  showed  that  the  father  and  the  grand- 
father had  both  been  hung ;  their  uncles  and  an  aunt  had 
long  been  in  les  bagnes  ;  one  of  their  nephews  had  been 
similarly  condemned;  and  the  rest  of  the  family  fol- 
lowed the  same  destiny.  Of  late  years  there  has  been 
the  daring  attempt  made  in  France  to  found  an  institu- 
tion for  the  reformation  of  the  children  of  criminals,  and 
it  is  said  that  the  attempt  has  been  wonderfully  suc- 
cessful. M.  Lucas  expresses  his  conviction  that,  in 
these  heritages  of  crime,  example  and  education  are 
only  secondary  and  auxiliary  causes,  and  that  the  true 
first  cause  is  hereditary  influence ;  adding  that,  as  educa- 
tion, example,  and  compulsion  would  fail  to  make  a  mu- 
sician, an  orator,  or  a  mathematician,  in  default  of  the 
inherited  capacity,  so  they  would  fail  to  make  a  thief. 
Dr.  Steinau  relates  from  his  personal  experience  a  re- 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  43 

markable  instance  of  theft  hereditary  for  three  genera- 
tions. P —  —  was  known  in  Dr.  S.'s  native  town  by  the 
name  of  "  The  Thief"  a  soubriquet  which  he  in  some 
degree  acknowledged.  Afterwards  his  son,  who  had  a 
profitable,  even  lucrative  trade,  and  was  quite  beyond  all 
necessity  for  theft,  evinced  a  strong  inclination  to  steal 
sundry  small  articles.  His  son,  grandson  of  the  original 
thief,  began  as  early  as  three  years  old  to  steal  eatables, 
far  more  than  he  could  eat ;  then  he  took  small  coins, 
and  afterwards  larger  sums ;  and  when  the  account  was 
written  he  had  become  an  expert  pickpocket,  and  was 
in  his  fourteenth  year  committed  to  the  House  of  Cor- 
rection. 

Tt  is  the  same  with  regard  to  crimes  attended  with 
violence  ;  but  we  must  pass  over  the  details.  Aristotle, 
in  the  seventh  book  of  his  "  Ethics,"  relates  "  the  case 
of  a  man  who  defended  himself  for  beating  his  father, 
because  (said  he)  'My  father  beat  his  father,  and  he 
again  beat  his ;  and  he  also '  (pointing  to  his  child)  '  will 
beat  me  when  he  becomes  a  man,  for  it  runs  in  our  fam- 
ily.' And  he  that  was  dragged  by  his  son,  bid  him  stop 
at  the  door,  for  that  he  himself  had  dragged  his  father 
so  far." 

There  is  no  form  of  heritage  more  remarkable  than 
that  of  the  tendency  to  suicide,  without  any  other  marks 
of  aberration  of  intellect.  Dr.  Winslow  relates  the  case 
of  a  family  where  all  the  members  exhibited,  when  they 
arrived  at  a  certain  age,  a  desire  to  commit  self-destruc- 
tion ;  to  accomplish  which  the  greatest  ingenuity  and 
industry  were  manifested.  Dr.  Gall  relates  a  very  strik- 
ing instance  of  seven  children  of  one  man,  who  all  en- 
joyed a  competency  and  good  health,  yet  all  possessed 
a  rage  for  suicide,  and  all  yielded  to  it  within  thirty  and 
forty  years.  "  Some  hanged,  some  drowned  themselves, 
and  others  blew  out  their  brains."  Many  other  examples 


44  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

of  the  same  tendency  are  brought  forward  by  the  same 
writer.  I  may  add  one  case  to  the  above  from  my  own 
experience.  Sitting  one  day  with  an  acquaintance,  I 
noticed  some  depression  in  his  spirits.  After  a  pro- 
longed silence,  he  broke  out  into  the  following  dreary 
attempt  at  conversation :  "  My  grandfather  hung  him- 
self, —  my  uncle  took  poison,  —  my  father  shot  himself, 
—  I  shall  cut  my  throat ! "  The  facts  were  correct ; 
but  constant  surveillance  prevented  the  sequel  in  his 
own  history.  This  tendency  to  suicide  is  frequently, 
though  by  no  means  invariably,  allied  to  the  heritage 
of  drunkenness.  The  Gazette  des  Tribunaux  relates  a 
deplorable  case  :  "  Four  brothers  inherited  the  passion 
for  drink,  which  they  all  indulged  to  excess.  The  eldest 
drowned  himself,  the  second  hung  himself,  the  third  cut 
his  throat  with  a  razor,  and  the  fourth  threw  himself 
out  of  an  upper  window,  but  recovered  from  his  injuries 
sufficiently  to  make  himself  amenable,  by  his  violence 
of  conduct,  to  a  criminal  accusation." 

Although  the  affairs  of  men  are  so  governed  that 
crime  is  not  permitted  to  become  a  perpetual  and  in- 
alienable heritage  to  all  succeeding  generations,  al- 
though even  upon  thrones  a  good  son  sometimes  suc- 
ceeds a  bad  father,  yet  history  furnishes  sufficient  illus- 
tration of  the  tendency  of  particular  qualities  to  adhere 
to  particular  families.  Alexander  VI.  and  his  children 
the  Borgias  were  notorious  for  their  crimes ;  as  were 
also  Sextus  VI.  and  his  children.  The  epithets  applied 
to  the  former  by  the  poet,  — 

"  Leno  vorax,  pathicus,  meretrix,  delator,  adulter,"  &<?., 
and  to  one  of  the  latter,  — 

"  Fur,  scortum,  lasno.  moechus,  psedico,  cyncedus 
Et  scurra,  et  phydicen  "  .  .  .  . 

prove  either  a  remarkable  succession  of  criminal   pro- 


NATURAL  HERITAGE.  45 

punsities,  or  a  very  great  and  varied  power  of  vitupera- 
tion in  the  writer.  The  atrocities  of  the  Farnese  fam- 
ily are  utterly  unfit  to  record.  The  Medici  were  all 
remarkable  for  thirst  for  power  and  authority ;  the  Vis- 
coiitis  were  all  cruel  and  vindictive,  —  they  had  the 
doubtful  credit  of  inventing  the  "forty  days'  torture." 
The  family  of  Charles  IV.  of  Germany  were  noted  for 
avarice ;  Voltaire  epigrammatically  remarks  that  he 
"vendait  en  detail  Fempire  qu'il  avait  achete  en  gros." 
How  pride  and  an  overweening  idea  of  the  "divine 
right"  of  kings,  combined  with  obstinacy  and  judicial 
blindness,  were  the  prerogatives  of  all  the  Stuart  fam- 
ily, and  caused  their  ruin,  is  matter  of  well-known  his- 
tory. Voltaire  says  that  "  all  the  line  of  the  Guises 
was  rash,  factious,  insolently  proud,  and  of  most  sedu- 
cing politeness  of  manner."  St.  Simon  notices  as  the 
characteristics  of  the  Conde  family,  intrepidity,  warlike 
skill,  and  brilliant  intellect ;  together  with  "  odious  vices 
of  character,  malignity,  avarice,  tyranny,  and  insolence." 
There  is  a  singular  modification  of  this  law  of  heri- 
tage, known  as  atavism,  in  accordance  with  which  the 
individual  does  not  resemble  either  parent,  but  the 
grandparent,  or  some  ancestor  in  either  the  direct  or 
collateral  line.  This  was  noticed  by  Lucretius  :  — 

"  Fit  quoque,  ut  interdum  similes  existere  avorum 
Possint,  et  referant  proavorum  saepe  figuras, 
Propterea,  quia  multa  modis  primordia  multis 
Mista  sua  celant  in  corpora  sa?pc  parentes, 
Qua:  patribus  patres  tradunt  a  stirpe  profecta. 
Inde  Venus  varia  producit  sorte  figuras; 
Majorumque  refert  vultus,  vocesque,  comasque." 

De  Rerum  Naturd,  lib.  iv. 

This  law  obtains  equally  in  natural  and  morbid  in- 
heritance, as  will  appear  afterwards.  Dr.  Prichard  re- 
lates an  instance  illustrative  of  this  point :  a  black 
woman  was  confined  of  a  white  child,  and  was  there- 


46  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

upon  in  great  fear  of  her  husband,  and  tried  to  keep  the 
child  from  his  sight  as  long  as  she  could.  When  he  saw 
the  child,  and  observed  her  fear,  he  said  :  "  You  are 
afraid  of  me  because  my  child  is  white ;  but  I  love  it 
the  better  for  that,  for  my  own  father  was  a  white  man, 
though  my  grandfather  and  grandmother  were  both  as 
black  as  you  and  myself;  and  although  we  came  from 
a  place  where  no  white  people  were  ever  seen,  yet  there 
was  always  a  white  child  in  every  family  that  was  re- 
lated to  us."  Mr.  Jefferson  has  collected  seven  instances 
of  this  nature.  Lady  Hester  Stanhope  claimed  a  strong 
resemblance  to  her  grandfather,  Lord  Chatham,  both  in 
bodily  and  mental  organization.  The  likeness  between 
cousins,  the  children  of  sisters  especially,  is  often  very 
striking,  even  when  there  is  no  very  strong  resemblance 
between  the  parents  themselves.  This  is  frequently 
manifested  in  feature,  —  but  if  not,  it  is  then  observed 
in  manner,  gesture,  or  some  special  aptitude.  Two  sis- 
ters of  my  acquaintance  have  each  of  them  a  daughter. 
The  child  of  the  elder  sister  is  not  very  like  her  own 
mother ;  but  strongly  resembles  her  cousin,  and  has  the 
voice  of  her  aunt.  Two  other  ladies  have  each  a  son ; 
—  there  is  little  likeness  between  the  sisters  ;  yet  the 
boys  are  so  very  much  alike,  that  they  are  constantly 
mistaken,  one  for  the  other.  In  like  manner,  amongst 
our  ancient  families,  likeness  both  of  feature  and  char- 
acter is  perpetually  reproduced. 

We  are  now  better  prepared  to  inquire  into  the  es- 
sential nature  of  the  law  of  diversity  or  variety,  and  to 
expound  more  fully  the  view  before  briefly  alluded  to,  — 
that  this  law  is  not  in  nature  opposed  to,  or  different 
from,  that  of  direct  heritage ;  but  is,  in  fact,  due  to  the 
very  constancy  and  energy  of  operation  of  this  latter ; 
whereby  not  only  the  established  formation  and  charac- 
ter of  any  individual  are  transmitted  to  the  offspring, 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  47 

but  also  the  temporary,  transitory,  accidental,  and  morbid 
modifications  of  structure  or  function  which  supervene 
upon  what  is  considered  to  be  the  normal  state.  We 
shall  find  reason  also  to  believe  that  other  forms  of 
diversity  are  due  to  the  particular  forms  of  vice  or  evil 
habits  practised  by  the  parents,  to  the  occurrence  of 
improper  or  consanguineous  union,  and  lastly  (a  point 
which  we  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  noticed),  to  the 
propagation,  not  so  much  of  the  actual  condition  as 
of  the  potentialities  or  possibilities  of  the  organization. 
All  these  require  brief  illustration :  we  will  for  the 
sake  of  convenience  take  the  last,  as  requiring  explan- 
ation, before  the  others. 

A  pair  of  perfectly  white  rabbits,  descended  from 
white  parents,  with  no  spot  of  color  upon  them,  —  such 
as  albinos,  —  will  always  produce  white  offspring,  illus- 
trating perfectly  the  hereditary  law.  But  supposing 
either  parent  to  have  upon  any  part  of  the  surface  even 
so  much  as  a  few  colored  hairs,  —  for  instance,  the 
smallest  spot  of  black  or  gray  upon  the  back,  —  it  is 
almost  certain  that  amongst  a  large  litter  of  young  ones, 
one  or  more  will  be  in  great  part  black  or  gray ;  —  quite 
certain  that  some  of  them  will  possess  much  more  color 
than  the  parent.  This  is  an  apt  enough  illustration  of 
the  law  of  variety  ;  yet  when  examined  it  is  but  in  ef- 
fect the  direct  inheritance  of  one  of  the  qualities  of  the 
parent,  the  chromogenic  or  color-producing  power,  which 
potentially  existed  in  the  parent,  but  was  actually  devel- 
oped in  the  young  one.  The  qualities  of  the  parent  arc 
unevenly  divided  amongst  the  children,  yet  appear  to 
be  generally  distributed  amongst  them.  What  is  said  of 
color  might  easily  be  further  illustrated  by  peculiarities 
of  organization,  &c.  And,  as  we  have  seen  the  strict- 
est analogies  prevailing  between  the  heritage  of  physical 
and  that  of  intellectual  and  moral  qualities,  it  is  not  dif- 


A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

ficult  to  understand  how  varieties  in  these  latter  may 
originate.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  this  hy- 
pothesis only  seems  to  remove  the  difficulty  one  step 
backwards.*  This  is  what  we  understand  by  "propaga- 
tion of  the  possibilities  of  the  organization."  But  we 
have  said  that  transitory  conditions  are  liable  to  trans- 
mission ;  and  thus  we  observe  youth,  maturity,  age, 
and  precocity  reproduced  in  the  offspring.  The  young 
of  animals  not  yet  fully  developed  are  small  and  stunt- 
ed, incapable  of  perfection  :  it  is  observed  in  foals,  lambs, 
goats,  calves,  &c.  born  of  very  young  parents ;  they  re- 

*  It  is  conceivable  that  the  germ  of  intellectual  or  moral  excellence 
in  any  one  given  individual  may,  from  the  unfavorable  influence  of 
surrounding  circumstances,  be  prevented  from  attaining  any  degree  of 
development ;  and  remain  latent,  to  be  transmitted  to  the  offspring, 
and  then  make  its  appearance  as  an  entirely  new  phase  or  variety  of 
character:  but  the  origin  of  such  differences  still  remains  to  be  ac- 
counted for,  and  probably  only  admits  of  explanation  by  a  very  liberal 
and  comprehensive  reception  of  the  theory  of  the  transmission  of  tran- 
sitory and  accidental  conditions  of  mind  or  physical  organization.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  conceive  why  a  child  should  be  unlike  either  parent, 
as  the  re-presentative  power  of  one  organism  may  be  counteracted 
or  modified  by  that  of  the  other,  where  the  constitutions  or  tempera- 
ments of  the  parents  differ  greatly  from  each  other.  But  this  would 
scarcely  suffice  to  account  for  the  differences  of  the  children  amongst 
themselves.  A  chemical  illustration  of  this  point  may  seem  fanci- 
ful, and  perhaps  be  in  effect  only  the  appealing  to  one  inexplicable 
phenomenon  to  explain  another;  yet  the  tracing  of  even  obscure  anal- 
ogies is  never  without  some  interest.  It  is  known  that  certain  bodies 
are  perfectly  similar  (isomeric)  in  chemical  constitution,  which  yet  dif- 
fer completely  in  their  physical  appearance  and  general  relations. 
Thus,  cyanuric  acid  is  a  crystalline  body,  easily  soluble  in  water  or 
ucids;  cyamelide  is  in  appearance  like  magnesia,  and  is  insoluble  in 
water  or  acids;  hydrated  cyanic  acid  is  a  highly  volatile  acrid  fluid, 
instantly  decomposed  by  contact  with  water:  yet  these  three,  on 
analysis,  yield  precisely  the  same  elements,  and  in  the  same  propor- 
tions. Liebig  states  that  albumen,  fibrine,  and  casein  are  exactly  simi- 
lar in  ultimate  composition  :  so  it  is  also  with  some  of  the  volatile  oils, 
which  differ  completely  in  their  external  appearance  and  relations.  Is 
it  altogether  impossible  that  the  same  organisms  may  communicate 
equal  parts  of  their  nature  to  their  offspring,  which  yet,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  an  organic  isomerism,  may  be  relationally  different  ? 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  49 

main  weak,  lymphatic,  and  functionally  inert.  In  our 
own  species  Aristotle  remarked  that,  in  those  cities  of 
Greece  where  it  was  the  custom  for  young  people  to 
marry  before  maturity,  the  children  were  puny  and  of 
small  stature.  Montesquieu  observed  the  same  fact :  the 
fear  of  conscription  induced  great  numbers  of  young 
people  to  marry  long  before  the  proper  period :  the 
unions  were  fruitful,  but  the  children  were  small, 
wretched,  and  unhealthy.  According  to  M.  Lucas,  the 
same  occurred  in  1812  and  1813. 

Maturity  also  transmits  its  characteristics  to  the 
progeny  :  the  stag  born  of  mature  parents  comes  to  its 
full  growth  and  the  enjoyment  of  its  functions  much 
earlier  than  those  born  of  parents  still  young.  There  is 
no  doubt  whatever  that  the  same  is  the  case  in  our  own 
species.  Old  age  is  also  in  many  cases  a  direct  heritage. 
According  to  Columella,  lambs  born  of  old  parents  have 
but  little  wool,  and  that  little,  coarse  ;  they  are  said  also 
to  be  often  sterile  :  foals  born  of  old  parents  are  also 
similar  in  many  respects  to  them  ;  and  their  hair  soon 
grows  gray  or  white.  Burdach  states  that,  amongst 
men,  some  of  the  children  born  of  very  old  parents  have 
from  birth  the  marks  of  senility,  with  a  liability  to  se- 
nile affections.11  The  phenomena  of  bodily  and  men- 
tal precocity  may  probably  be  due  to  a  direct  inher- 
itance of  the  present  state  of  the  parents  ;  but  any 
explanation  founded  on  such  an  hypothesis  would  neces- 
sarily be  obscure.  Certain  temporary  physiological  con- 
ditions appear  to  be  heritable,  for  an  account  of  which 
we  must  refer  to  special  works  on  such  subjects.  With 
regard  to  all  these  states,  Vallesius  goes  so  far  as  to  say 
that  "  non  enim  animal  generat  sibi  simile  secundum  id 
quod  fuit  aut  erit,  sed  SECUNDUM  ID  QUOD  IN  ACTU  EST." 

But  of  all  the  modifications  of  natural  heritage,  the 
most  serious  and  important  is  the  heritage  of  morbid 
3  D 


50  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

conditions ;  and,  although  it  would  not  be  desirable  in 
a  popular  essay  to  enter  deeply  into  this  part  of  the 
subject,  it  must  necessarily  claim  some  share  of  our  at- 
tention. There  are  various  forms  in  which  disease  may 
appear  in  the  children,  due  to  parental  causes.  The  par- 
ents may  be  free  from  disease,  yet  produce  unhealthy 
children,  owing  probably  to  some  unfitness  in  the  union  ; 
these  affections  stamp  themselves  as  hereditary,  by  af- 
fecting all,  or  nearly  all,  the  members  of  the  family.  Sir 
Henry  Holland  mentions  a  family  consisting  of  three 
sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of  whom  had  a  paralytic  at- 
tack before  the  age  of  forty-five,  though  neither  of  the 
parents  had  suffered  from  anything  similar  ;  and  anoth- 
er of  a  family  where  four  children  died  in  infancy  from 
affections  of  the  brain,  without  any  of  the  relations 
having  been  so  affected.  I  am  acquainted  with  a  large 
family,  all  of  whom  suffered  when  young  from  enlarged 
tonsils,  and  almost  all  of  whom  are  short-sighted  in  the 
extreme,  though  neither  father  nor  mother  have  experi- 
enced either  inconvenience.  At  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
School  in  Manchester  there  were,  in  1837,  forty-eight 
children  taken  from  seventeen  families,  of  which  the 
whole  number  of  children  was  one  hundred  and  six ; 
amongst  these,  only  one  parent  was  known  to  have  been 
similarly  affected.  Sir  Henry  Holland,  who  also  quotes 
this  case,  does  not  mention  whether  any  of  the  ancestry 
were  so  diseased  :  deaf-dumbness  appears,  like  many  oth- 
er affections,  to  have  a  tendency  to  miss  the  alternate 
generations.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  on 
record  is  that  of  two  children  presented  to  the  Academy 
of  Medicine  in  Paris,  in  1844,  both  of  whom  were  af- 
fected with  a  congenital  disease  of  the  skin,  called  lepra  ; 
neither  parent  ever  having  had  anything  similar. 

Another  form  of  inheritance  of  disease  is  that  where 
the  children  are  affected  with  some  transformation  of  the 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  51 

disease  to  which  the  parents  are  victims ;  as  in  the 
change  of  scrofula  into  rachitism,  phthisis,  and  the  like. 
A  third  is  that  of  inheritance  of  liability  to  certain  af- 
fections, as  where  entire  families  are  prone  to  the  exan- 
themata, and  will  occasionally  have  those  eruptive  dis- 
orders repeatedly,  which  usually  only  occur  once  during 
the  lifetime. 

In  the  direct  heritage  of  morbid  changes  the  most 
simple  is  that  of  deformity,  or  accidental  deficiency  of 
parts.  The  former  is  more  frequent  than  the  latter; 
hunchbacked  parents  very  frequently  have  children  that 
become  so  early  in  life ;  but  limbs  injured  by  accident 
not  unfrequently  affect  the  formation  of  the  correspond- 
ing limb  of  the  children.  Larry  relates  that  a  general 
officer  was  hit  on  the  collar-bone  by  a  ball ;  the  middle 
of  the  bone  was  taken  out,  and  when  the  wound  healed 
there  was  an  empty  space,  a  loss  of  continuity  in  the 
substance  of  the  bone.  A  daughter  born  to  him  after 
this  had  a  similar  defect.  Blumenbach  states  that  "  an 
officer  had  been  wounded  in  the  little  finger  of  his  right 
hand,  in  consequence  of  which  this  finger  forever  re- 
mained deformed.  He  afterwards  married,  and  all  his 
children,  male  and  female,  were  born  with  the  like  de- 
formity in  the  same  finger  on  the  same  hand."  Innu- 
merable instances  illustrating  the  same  point  might  be 
quoted.  And  yet,  in  the  case  of  accidental  defects  or 
mutilations,  the  general  rule  holds  good,  —  as  we  have 
before  remarked,  —  that  the  individual  does  not  lose  the 
potentiality  of  the  species,  but  propagates  a  perfect  indi- 
vidual,—  or,  at  least,  perfect  so  far  as  regards  the  absence 
of  these  accidental  deficiencies.  Dr.  Prichard  wrote  very 
positively  on  this  subject  at  one  time,  but  had  occasion 
afterwards  in  some  degree  to  modify  his  opinion  :  — 

"  Nothing,"  says  he,  "  seems  to  hold  true  more  gen- 
erally, than  that  all  acquired  conditions  of  body,  whether 


52  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

produced  by  art  or  accident,  end  with  the  life  of  the  in- 
dividual in  whom  they  are  produced.  Many  nations 
mould  their  bodies  into  unnatural  forms  :  the  Indians 
flatten  their  foreheads  ;  the  rhinese  women  reduce  their 
feet  to  one  third  of  their  original  dimensions  ;  savages 
elongate  their  ears  ;  many  races  cut  away  the  prepuce. 
We  frequently  mutilate  our  domestic  animals  by  re- 
moving the  tail  or  ears  ;  and  our  own  species  are  often 
obliged,  by  disease,  to  submit  to  the  loss  of  limbs.  After 
the  operation  of  circumcision  has  prevailed  for  three  or 
four  thousand  years,  the  Jews  are  still  born  with  pre- 
puces, and  still  obliged  to  submit  to  a  painful  rite. 
Docked  horses  and  cropped  dogs  bring  forth  young  with 
entire  ears  and  tails.  But  for  this  salutary  law,  what  a 
frightful  spectacle  would  every  race  of  animals  exhibit ! 
The  mischances  of  all  preceding  times  would  overwhelm 
us  with  their  united  weight ;  and  the  catalogue  would  be 
continually  increasing ;  until  the  universe,  instead  of 
displaying  a  spectacle  of  beauty  and  pleasure,  would  be 
filled  with  maimed,  imperfect,  and  monstrous  shapes." 

This  is  certainly  true  as  to  the  general  law ;  but  the 
instances  above  quoted,  and  those  with  which  systematic 
works  on  such  subjects  abound,  show  that  the  law  has 
numerous  exceptions,  and  indicate  the  possibility  of  the 
transmission  of  even  the  most  casual  and  fortuitous  de- 
fect. Mr.  Youatt  observes,  upon  the  breeding  of  horses  : 
"  The  first  axiom  we  would  lay  down  is  this,  Like  will 
produce  like ;  the  progeny  will  inherit  the  qualities  or 
the  mingled  qualities  of  the  parents.  We  would  refer 
to  the  subject  of  diseases,  and  state  our  perfect  convic- 
tion that  there  is  scarcely  one  by  which  either  of  the 
parents  is  affected  that  the  foal  will  not  inherit,  or  at 
least  the  predisposition  to  it ;  even  the  consequences  of  ill- 
usage  or  hard  work  will  descend  to  the  progeny.  Wo 
have  had  proof  upon  proof  that  blindness,  roaring,  thick 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  53 

wind,  broken  wind,  curbs,  spavins,  ring-bones,  and  found- 
er have  been  bequeathed  both  by  the  sire  and  the  dam 
to  the  offspring.  It  should  likewise  be  recollected  that, 
although  these  blemishes  may  not  appear  in  the  immedi- 
ate progeny,  they  frequently  will  in  the  next  generation. 
Hence  the  necessity  for  some  knowledge  of  the  parentage 
both  of  the  sire  and  dam." 

Amongst  the  external  diseases,  lepra,  herpes,  and  ich- 
thyosis  are  considered  hereditary.  Cophosis  nervosa,  or 
nervous  deafness,  cataract,  and  amaurosis  are  the  most 
frequently  hereditary  of  the  affections  of  the  special 
senses  ;  and,  next  to  them,  those  very  peculiar  derange- 
ments of  vision  called  nyctalopia,  and  hemeralopia  (day 
or  night  blindness).  Cuvier  describes  a  family  in  which 
this  singular  disease  had  been  propagated  for  two  centu- 
ries, and  where,  from  intermarriage,  chiefly  with  the 
males  of  this  family,  a  great  district  (the  Commune  de 
Vendemian)  had  become  seriously  overspread  with  it. 
Of  internal  diseases  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  which  of 
them  did  not  induce  a  liability  to  their  reappearance  in 
the  offspring.  I  shall  briefly  allude  to  a  few  only.  First, 
perhaps,  in  order  of  frequency  and  importance,  so  far  as 
our  own  country  is  concerned,  is  the  inheritance  of  the 
various  forms  of  scrofula  and  consumption.  If  both 
parents  be  affected,  we  generally  observe  almost  the 
whole  of  the  children,  sooner  or  later,  taken  off  by  some 
form  or  other  of  these  protean  complaints.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  one  parent  be  of  a  healthy  and  vigorous  stock, 
many  of  the  children  may  escape  ;  but  it  is  rare  that  all 
do  so.  There  is  also  a  most  remarkable  transformation 
observed  in  some  of  these  cases,  that  of  a  bodily  to  a 
mental  affection.  A  mother  dying  of  or  far  advanced  in 
consumption,  at  the  birth  of  a  child,  does  not  always 
leave  to  that  child  the  precise  morbid  heritage  of  her 
complaint ;  but  in  many  instances,  —  far  too  frequent  to 


54  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

be  considered  the  result  of  accident  or  coincidence,  — 
there  is  remarked,  as  the  child  grows  up,  a  deficiency 
either  in  intellect  or  morals,  which  quite  opposes  any  ef- 
fectual culture  :  in  intellect,  there  appears  to  be  a  power 
of  expansion  up  to  a  certain  very  limited  extent,  but  no 
farther ;  in  morals,  the  most  frequent  phenomenon  ap- 
pears to  be  a  lack  of  perception  of  truth,  and  of  the 
rules  of  social  order  and  relationship. 

Epilepsy  and  convulsive  disorders  generally  inhere 
strongly  in  families,  —  as,  in  fact,  do  all  organic  or  func- 
tional affections  of  the  nervous  system.  In  ancient 
times  the  legislature  interfered  to  prevent  the  propaga- 
tion of  sundry  of  these  diseases,  and  most  severe  and  in- 
human were  the  enactments  made  with  this  view,  as  the 
following  passage  from  Boethius  indicates  :  "  Morbo 
comitiali,  dementia,  mania,  lepra,  &c.,  aut  simili  labe, 
quse  facile  in  prolem  transmittitur,  laborantes  inter  eos, 
ingenti  facta  indagine,  inventos,  ne  gens  foeda  contagione 
Isederetur  ea  iis  nata,  castraverunt ;  mulieres  hujusrnodi 
procul  a  virorurn  consortio  ablegarunt,  quod  si  harum 
aliqua  concepisse  inveniebatur,  simul  cum  foetu  nondum 
edito,  defodiebatur  viva."  (Boethius,  "  De  Veterum 
Scotorum  Moribus,"  lib.  i.)  Gout,  gravel,  asthma,  and 
apoplexy  are  amongst  the  most  frequent  forms  of  hered- 
itary disease,  all  affecting,  in  many  instances,  the  singu- 
lar peculiarity  of  passing  over  one  generation,  and  at- 
tacking the  alternate  ones  only.  A  very  inexplicable 
phenomenon  connected  with  transmission  is  mentioned 
by  Sir  H.  Holland,  —  hydrocele  occurring  in  three  out  of 
four  generations,  the  omission  depending  upon  a  female 
being  the  third  in  the  series,  in  whose  sou  the  complaint 
reappeared.  Of  such  a  fact  as  this  neither  science  in  its 
present  state,  nor  conjecture,  can  afford  even  a  plausible 
solution  or  explanation.  Sir  Henry  also  mentions  in- 
stances where  the  inability  to  distinguish  colors,  as  blue 
and  pink  (color  blindness),  ran  in  entire  families. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  55 

There  is,  however,  scarcely  any  portion  of  our  subject 
which  bears  so  grave  an  interest  as  the  heritage  of  men- 
tal affections,  —  the  inheritance  of  an  unsound  mind. 
This  we  must  understand  in  its  most  comprehensive 
sense.  We  have  seen  above  how  mental  aptitudes,  and 
even  acquisitions,  are  transmitted  from  parent  to  child  : 
we  shall  now  see  that  mental  defects  and  feeblenesses 
are  with  even  greater  certainty  and  constancy  entailed 
upon  the  offspring.  Insanity  itself,  in  its  denned  forms, 
has  universally  been  recognized  as  an  hereditary  disease. 
It  appears  to  be  more  so  amongst  the  rich  than  amongst 
the  poor,  although  this  may  arise  in  part  from  the 
greater  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  facts  amongst  the 
latter.  According  to  the  zeal  and  accuracy  with  which 
the  subject  has  been  investigated,  we  find  a  greater  prom- 
inence given  to  inheritance  as  a  cause  of  insanity.  M. 
Esquirol  says  that  one  half  the  cases  amongst  the  higher 
classes,  and  about  one  third  amongst  the  lower,  have  been 
inherited  from  parents  or  ancestors.  According  to  an- 
other authority,  seventy-seven  per  cent  of  the  cases  at 
the  Bicetre  were  hereditary  ;  and  Dr.  Burrows  makes  the 
proportion  eighty-four  per  cent.  Feuchtersleben  thus 
writes  :  — 

"  Hereditary  descent  is  unquestionably  the  most  fre- 
quent cause  ;  more  than  half  the  cases  that  occur  are 
occasioned  or  favored  by  it.  Marriages  in  the  same 
family  contribute,  therefore,  to  the  propagation  of  this 
germ.  It  often  takes  place  uninterruptedly  from  the 
father  to  the  son,  from  the  son  to  the  grandson :  often 
with  an  interruption  from  the  grandfather  to  the  grand- 
son ;  often  irregularly  to  the  nephews,  £c.  The  danger 
is  less  when  the  procreator  does  not  become  insane  till 
after  the  procreation,  and  therefore  had  previously  only  a 
predisposition.  The  tendency  manifests  itself  on  the 
psychical  side,  —  1,  by  passiveness  in  thinking,  in  feel- 


56  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

ing,  and  in  vrilling  ;  2,  on  the  physical  side,  by  predomi- 
nant erethistic  vital  debility,  the  fundamental  character 
of  the  present  generation." 

Dr.  Maudesley's  observations  12  on  this  subject  are 
important.  He  says  :  "  The  more  exact  and  scrupulous 
the  researches  made,  the  more  distinctly  is  displayed  the 
influence  of  hereditary  taint  in  the  production  of  in- 
sanity. It  is,  unfortunately,  impossible  to  get  exact  or 
accurate  information  on  this  subject.  So  strong  is  the 
foolish  feeling  of  disgrace  attaching  to  the  occurrence  of 
insanity  in  a  family,  that  people,  not  apt  usually  to  say 
what  is  not  true,  will  disclaim  or  deny  most  earnestly 
the  existence  of  any  hereditary  taint,  when  all  the  time 
the  indications  of  it  are  most  positive  ;  yes,  when  its 
existence  is  well  known,  and  they  must  know  that  it  is 
well  known Two  important  considerations,  in  re- 
gard to  this  question,  should  have  full  weight  given  to 
them  :  First,  that  the  native  infirmity  or  taint  may  be  of 
very  different  degrees  of  intensity,  so  as,  on  the  one  hand, 
to  conspire  only  with  certain  more  or  less  powerful  excit- 
•  ing  causes,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  give  rise  to  insanity 
even  amidst  the  most  favorable  external  circumstances  \ 
Secondly,  that  not  insanity  only  in  the  parents,  but  any 
form  of  nervous  disease  in  them,  —  epilepsy,  hysteria, 
and  even  neuralgia,  —  may  predispose  to  insanity  in  the 
offspring,  as,  conversely,  insanity  in  the  parent  may  pre- 
dispose to  other  kinds  of  nervous  diseases  in  the  offspring. 
....  Infinitely  various  as  the  constitutional  idiosyncra- 
sies of  men  notably  are,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  how  impos- 
sible it  is  that  statistics  should  ever  give  exact  informa- 
tion concerning  the  causation  of  insanity  :  here,  as  in  so 
many  instances  of  their  application,  their  value  is  that 
they  settle  distinctly  the  existence  of  a  certain  tendency, 
so  to  speak,  which,  once  fixed,  affords  a  good  starting- 
point  for  further  and  more  rigorous  researches ;  they  in- 
dicate the  direction  of  future  investigation." 


NATURAL    HERITAGE.  57 

The  practical  importance  of  this  subject,  in  a  popular 
point  of  view,  consists  in  two  facts:  (1.)  that  there  is 
a  debatable  ground  of  mental  condition,  which  is  not 
insanity  in  the  eye  of  the  law  or  of  the  physician,  but 
which  cannot  possibly  be  spoken  of  as  perfect  mental 
soundness  ;  and  (2.)  that  the  various  forms  of  slight  and 
severe  mental  affection  are  naturally  interchangeable  and 
transformable  by  way  of  generation  :  thus  hysteria  or 
chorea,  in  one  generation,  may  become  imbecility,  mania, 
or  epilepsy  in  the  next  or  third.  Insanity  of  any  form 
in  the  parent  may  be  represented  in  the  offspring  either 
by  a  similar  affection,  by  sensory  disorders  (as  deaf- 
dumbness,  &c.),  by  epilepsy,  by  hysteria,  or  by  the  vague 
and  undefined  weaknesses  or  perversions  of  judgment, 
capacity,  or  will,  which  we  call  unsoundness  of  mind. 
The  general  law  with  these  neuroses  is  that,  without 
special  attention  to  the  rules  of  hygiene,  they  increase 
in  gravity  and  intensity  from  generation  to  generation  ; 
and  thus  young  persons  who  weakly  encourage  hysterical 
habits  or  the  blind  indulgence  of  impulses  without  the 
intervention  of  will  and  conscience,  are  laying  the  foun- 
dation for  the  most  serious  lesions  of  intellect  or  morals 
in  after-generations.  For  not  only  are  the  special  vices 
of  organization  and  function  inherited  in  an  aggravated 
form ;  but  it  is  sad,  yet  certain,  that  there  are  individ- 
uals who  in  their  own  person  inherit  the  sum  of  the  per- 
verted tendencies  of  many  anterior  generations.  M. 
Morel,  speaking  of  such  beings,  uses  the  following  forci- 
ble expressions  :  — 

"  A  development  sufficiently  remarkable,  of  certain 
faculties,  may  give  a  different  color  to  the  future  of  these 
unfortunate  heritors  of  evil ;  but  their  intellectual  exist- 
ence is  circumscribed  within  certain  limits,  which  it  can- 
not pass. 

"  The  conditions  of  degeneration  in  which  the  heirs  of 
3* 


58  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

certain  faulty  organic  dispositions  find  themselves  are 
revealed  not  only  by  exterior  typical  characters  easily  to 
be  recognized,  such  as  a  small,  ill-formed  head,  predomi- 
nance of  a  morbid  temperament,  special  deformities  and 
anomalies,  &c.,  but  also  by  the  strangest  and  most  incom- 
prehensible aberrations  in  the  exercise,  of  the  intellectual 
faculties,  and  of  the  moral  sentiments.'"  13 

Our  English  law  recognizes  as  insane  those  who  do 
not  know  right  from  wrong  ;  and,  considering  their  moral 
liberty  as  extinguished,  views  them  as  irresponsible.  It 
recognizes  as  sane  those  who  do  know  right  from  wrong, 
and  views  them  as  responsible,  as  enjoying  moral  liberty  : 
a  very  imperfect  and  faulty  conception.  Many  of  those 
who  are  called  insane  could  tell  in  forcible  language  the 
difference  between  moral  right  and  wrong  ;  whilst  many 
of  those  who  mix  daily  in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  are 
considered  sane,  have  no  proper  or  practical  conception 
of  such  differences.  Now,  if  moral  liberty  means  any- 
thing beyond  a  formula  without  interpretation,  it  means 
the  power  of  choosing  and  acting,  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  judgment,  conscience,  and  will,  in  opposition  to 
impulse  and  temptation.  The  impulse  and  the  tempta- 
tion being  increased,  and  the  faculties  of  judgment  and 
will,  and  the  dictates  of  the  conscience,  being  both  rela- 
tively and  absolutely  diminished,  it  follows  necessarily 
that,  in  proportion  to  these  changes,  moral  liberty  is  in- 
vaded, its  powers  curtailed,  and  responsibility  to  some 
extent  modified.  These  are  precisely  the  variations 
which  we  observe  occurring  in  obedience  to  the  law  of 
heritage,  in  its  comprehensive  sense  :  as  in  physical  her- 
itage all  the  qualities  or  lineaments  of  a  parent  are  not 
equally  inherited  by  the  children,  but  divided  amongst 
them,  so  in  affections  of  the  mind  it  is  not  always  the 
same  and  entire  phase  which  is  represented  in  the  off- 
spring ;  but  this  is  analyzed,  and  the  elements  distributed. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  59 

In  one  we  have  an  impulsive  nature,  in  which,  between 
the  idea  and  the  act,  there  is  scarcely  an  interval ;  in 
another,  the  proneness  to  yield  to  temptation  of  any 
kind,  —  a  feeble  power  of  resistance,  inherited  either 
from  the  original  or  the  acquired  nature  of  the  parent ; 
in  a  third  we  have  an  imbecile  judgment ;  in  a  fourth, 
an  enfeebled  vacillating  will ;  in  a  fifth,  or  in  all,  a  con- 
science by  nature  or  habit  torpid,  and  all  but  dormant. 
All  these  are  the  normal  representatives  of  an  unsound 
parentage  ;  and  all  are  potentially  the  parents  of  an  un- 
sound progeny  :  in  all  is  moral  liberty  weakened ; 
in  all  is  responsibility  not  an  absolute,  but  a  relative 
idea. 

"  It  is  very  singular,"  says  Dr.  Holmes,  "  that  we  recog- 
nize all  the  bodily  defects  that  unfit  a  man  for  military 
service,  and  all  the  intellectual  ones  that  limit  his  range 
of  thought ;  but  always  talk  at  him  as  though  all  his 

moral  powers  were  perfect Some  persons  talk 

about  the  human  will  as  if  it  stood  on  a  high  lookout, 
with  plenty  of  light,  and  elbow-room  reaching  to  the 
horizon.  Doctors  are  constantly  noticing  how  it  is  tied 
up  and  darkened  by  inferior  organization,  by  disease,  and 
all  sorts  of  crowding  interferences  ;  until  they  get  to  look 
upon  Hottentots  and  Indians,  —  and  a  good  many  of 
their  own  race  too,  —  as  a  kind  of  self-conscious  blood- 
clocks,  with  very  limited  power  of  self-determination  ;  — 
and  they  find  it  as  hard  to  hold  a  child  accountable  in 
any  moral  point  of  view  for  inherited  bad  temper,  or 
tendency  to  drunkenness,  as  they  would  to  blame  him 
for  inheriting  gout  or  asthma." 

The  man  who  inherits  from  his  parents  an  impulsive 
or  easily  tempted  nature,  and  an  inert  will  and  judgment, 
and  commits  a  crime  under  the  influence  of  strong 
emotion,  can  no  more  be  placed  in  the  same  category  of 
responsibility  with  a  man  of  more  favorable  constitution 


GO  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

and  temperament,  than  can  a  man  who  steals  a  loaf 
under  the  pangs  of  starvation,  with  the  merchant  who 
commits  a  forgery  to  afford  him  the  means  of  prolonging 
a  guilty  career.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  these  con- 
stitutional defects  may  be  (and  daily  are)  so  combined 
as  to  produce  almost  complete  irresponsibility,  under  a 
rational  system  of  judgment ;  even  in  cases  where  the 
intellect,  such  as  it  is,  remains  coherent,  and  its  possessor 
is  accounted  sane.  Hence  arises,  in  great  measure,  that 
strange  insoluble  problem  of  our  race,  —  the  existence 
of  what  are  called  the  "  DANGEROUS  CLASSES,"  a  people 
who  seem  set  apart  to  fill  our  jails,  our  penitentiaries, 
our  houses  of  correction,  our  penal  settlements ;  a  peo- 
ple at  war  with  their  kind,  —  natural  enemies  of  their 
brethren  ;  a  leaven  leavening,  and  infecting,  and  drawing 
into  the  vortex  of  its  own  corruption  even  the  compara- 
tively sound  elements  of  society ;  the  pariahs  of  human- 
ity, the  despair  of  philanthropists,  the  opprobrium  of 
legislation.  It  will  not  be  by  constantly  repeated  cor- 
rections that  these  classes  will  be  reformed,  —  "  Why 
should  ye  be  stricken  any  more  1  Ye  will  revolt  more 
and  more,"  —  but  by  a  patient  repetition  of  the  means 
by  which  man,  as  a  race,  has  been  civilized.  Successive 
generations,  undergoing  the  process  of  elevation  from 
barbarism,  have  been  born  not  only  into  an  improved 
and  more  favorable  medium  or  condition  of  society,  but 
also  into  an  inheritance  of  faculties  or  aptitudes,  intel- 
lectual and  moral,  refined  and  strengthened  by  the  cul- 
tivation of  those  of  their  parents ;  and  so  it  must  be  by 
successive  attempts  at  the  cultivation  of  the  moral  na- 
ture of  these  dangerous  classes,  that  they,  the  barbarous 
elements  of  social  life,  must  be  redeemed  from  their 
present  degraded  condition,  and  enabled  to  transmit  an 
improving  and  still  improvable  nature  to  their  descend- 
ants. For  a  large  amount  of  valuable  information  on 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  61 

the  direct  and  constructive  inheritance  of  mental  im- 
soundness,  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  Dr.  Campagne's 
recent  work,  "  Sur  la  Manie  Raisonnante  "  (Paris,  1869). 

There  is  another  form  of  weakness  introduced  into 
society  through  the  medium  of  generation,  important  to 
notice,  though  not  numerically  so  serious  as  the  last.  I 
quote  from  Mr.  Whitehead,  on  "  Hereditary  Diseases  " :  — 

"  The  offspring  of  parents,  both  possessing  great  in- 
tellectual capacities,  are  liable  to  inherit  such  capacities 
in  still  greater  proportion ;  but  along  with  this  refine- 
ment, so  to  speak,  of  the  cerebral  faculties,  is  usually 
conjoined  a  degree  of  physical  delicacy,  or  of  dispropor- 
tionate development,  which  constantly  endangers  organic 
integrity  ;  and  the  peril  is  further  increased  if  education 
be  urged,  in  early  life,  beyond  a  certain  limit.  The 
mind  which  seemed  capable  of  comprehending  intuitively 
the  most  abstract  problem,  is  soon  shaken  and  unbal- 
anced, merging  at  length  into  insanity." 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  amongst  a  people  so  bar- 
barous 14  as  the  Chinese  we  should  find,  in  reference  to 
these  hereditary  weaknesses  and  crimes,  a  custom  worthy 
of,  but  little  followed  in,  the  most  civilized  nations.  In 
examining  a  criminal,  they  do  not  only  inquire  into  the 
facts  of  the  crime  itself;  they  examine  most  minutely 
into  the  temperament,  complexion,  and  physical  state  of 
the  accused ;  into  the  most  trifling  events  of  his  former 
life  ;  into  everything  that  can  throw  any  light  upon 
motive  or  impulse  ;  also  into  the  state  of  his  parents  and 
ancestors.  Were  this  same  rule  systematically  followed 
out  in  European  courts  of  justice,  we  should  very  soon 
have  a  collection  of  the  most  valuable  data  for  the  solu- 
tion of  many  hitherto  insoluble  problems,  such  as  the 
general  relations  of  organization  to  morality,  of  criminal- 
ity to  ignorance,  education,  insanity,  and  so  forth.  This 
excellent  custom  in  the  nation  in  question  is  accompanied, 


02  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

however,  by  a  barbarity  of  punishment  which  we  should 
by  no  means  wish  to  emulate.  If  a  Chinese  be  convicted 
of  lese-majesty,  the  law  is,  that  "he  be  cut  into  ten 
thousand  pieces,  and  his  sons  and  his  grandsons  be  put 
to  death."  It  appears  that  a  similar  law  exists  in  the 
code  of  Prussia,  but  only  as  to  the  letter,  never  being 
acted  upon. 

We  have  now  to  notice  more  especially  those  forms  of 
degeneration  in  successive  generations  which  arise  in 
accordance  with  tolerably  denned  laws,  from  certain  ar- 
rangements of  society,  certain  habits  of  life  of  individ- 
uals, and  certain  occupations. 

The  first  to  which  we  allude  is  the  subject  of  mar- 
riages between  members  of  nearly  allied  families,  — 
what  are  called  consanguine  marriages.  The  very  gen- 
eral opinion  is,  that  the  children  of  such  unions  are  af- 
fected with  some  form  of  physical  or  mental  peculiarity, 
not  possessed  in  the  same  degree  or  kind  by  either  par- 
ent ;  but  it  is  alleged  by  some  that  such  ideas  are  chi- 
merical, and,  in  fact,  that,  as  the  earth  was  first  peopled  by 
one  family,  there  can  be  no  valid  reason  why  those  even 
most  closely  allied  should  not  intermarry.  The  question 
has  been  controverted  warmly,  and  may  be  considered  as 
not  yet  quite  settled.  Such  illustration  as  can  be  de- 
rived from  the  breeding  of  animals  is  contained  in  the 
much-argued  question  as  to  the  propriety  of  crossing,  or 
what  is  termed  in-and-iy,  breeding ;  that  is,  breeding 
from  near  relatives.  Mr.  Youatt's  verdict  as  to  horses  is 
as  follows  :  — 

"  On  the  subject  of  breeding  in-and-in,  that  is,  perse- 
vering in  the  same  breed,  and  selecting  the  best  on 
either  side,  much  has  been  said.  The  system  of  crossing 
requires  much  judgment  and  experience  ;  a  great  deal 
more,  indeed,  than  breeders  usually  possess.  The  bad 
qualities  of  the  cross  are  too  soon  engrafted  on  the 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  63 

original  stock,  and,  once  engrafted,  these  are  not  for  many 
generations  eradicated.  The  good  ones  of  both  are  oc- 
casionally neutralized  to  a  most  mortifying  degree.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  the  fact,  however  some  may  deny 
it,  that  strict  confinement  to  one  breed,  however  valuable 
or  perfect,  produces  gradual  deterioration." 

Sir  J.  Sebright,  speaking  of  the  in-and-in  breeding, 
says,  "  I  have  no  doubt  that,  by  this  practice  being  con- 
tinued, animals  would,  in  course  of  time,  degenerate  to 
such  a  degree  as  to  become  incapable  of  breeding  at 
all " ;  and  Mr.  Knight  adds,  that  "  the  animals  in  all 
cases  gradually  acquire,  though  with  some  irregularity, 
more  dwarfish  habits."  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that, 
under  this  system,  the  male  constitution  suffers  first, 
and  most.  Mr.  Walker  observes  :  "  The  reproductive 
power  is  enfeebled  ;  and  upon  that  the  whole  organiza- 
tion of  the  animal  depends.  Hence  nearly  perfect  beings 
would  inevitably  degenerate"  These  views  seem  to  be 
pretty  generally  received,  and  acted  upon.  It  is  true 
that,  for  the  racecourse,  the  pure  southeastern  breed  is 
adhered  to  ;  but  different  stocks  of  the  same  breed,  and 
those  brought  up  in  different  localities,  are  selected.15 

There  is  this  difference  between  the  breeding  of  do- 
mestic animals  and  human  propagation,  that  the  former 
may  be  met  with  in  a  condition  nearly  approaching  per- 
fection, and  so  contain  within  any  given  family  but  few 
elements  of  degeneration ;  but  it  is  otherwise  with  man, 
for  it  is  rare  to  find  any  family  that  has  not  some. taint 
of  disease  or  weakness,  moral  or  physical,  from  two  mem- 
bers of  which  the  progeny  will  be  much  more  affected 
than  either  parent ;  for  two  individuals  having  the 
same  defect  will  transmit  it  many  times  multiplied  in 
intensity  to  their  offspring.  Burton  says  strongly,  but 
not  without  truth  :  — 

"  By  our  too  much  facility  in  this  kind,  in  giving  way 


64  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

for  all  to  marry  that  will,  too  much  liberty  and  indul- 
gence in  tolerating  all  sorts,  there  is  a  vast  confusion  of 
breed  and  diseases,  no  family  secure,  no  man  almost  free 
from  some  grievous  infirmity  or  other,  when  no  choice  is 
had,  but  still  the  eldest  must  marry  ....  or,  if  rich, 
be  they  fools  or  dizzards,  lame  or  maimed,  unable,  intem- 
perate, dissolute,  exhaust  through  riot,  as  it  is  said,  jure 
hxreditatis  sapere  jubentur,  they  must  be  wise  and  able 
by  inheritance  ;  it  comes  to  pass  that  our  generation  is 
corrupt,  we  have  many  weak  persons,  both  in  body  and 
mind,  many  feral  diseases  raging  amongst  us,  crazed 
families,  parentes  peremptores  ;  our  fathers  bad,  and  we 
are  like  to  be  worse.* 

It  will  be  necessary  briefly  to  allude  to  the  mode  in 
which  the  parents  respectively  contribute  to  the  forma- 
tion and  constitution  of  the  offspring.  Into  the  entire 
arguments  for  and  against  I  cannot  enter,  but  must  con- 
tent myself  with  giving  those  conclusions  which  seem 
most  generally  accepted,  as  accordant  with  the  phenom- 
ena of  horse  and  cattle  breeding,  and  those  observed  in 
man.  It  appears  that  both  the  parents  are  represented 
in  the  offspring,  and  probably  almost  to  the  same  extent ; 
all  parts  of  the  system  are  modified  by  each,  yet  each 
presides  over  a  separate  system  of  organs  which  follow 
respectively  the  type  of  one  parent.  Thus  one  parent 
may  give  the  locomotive  organs,  which  will  include  the 
general  form  and  the  muscular  and  osseous  development ; 
whilst  the  other  parent  will  give  the  vital  or  nutritive 
system,  with  the  organs  of  the  senses  :  the  former  will 
give  volition  ;  the  latter,  sensation  and  the  emotional  fac- 
ulties. Either  parent  may,  according  to  circumstances, 
give  either  series  of  organs  ;  but  if  in  one  series  there 
be  traced  a  strong  resemblance  to  one  parent,  the  other 
series  will  almost  certainly  resemble  those  of  the  other. 
*  Anatomy  of  Melancholy. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  65 

In  animals  of  the  same  variety  there  is  this  uncertain- 
ty in  a  marked  degree ;  but  in  crossing  two  healthy 
breeds,  it  is  stated  to  be  the  rule  that  the  male  parent 
gives  the  locomotive  and  volitional  organs,  whilst  the 
female  communicates  the  vital  and  emotional  ones ; 
there  is,  therefore,  much  greater  certainty  of  producing 
any  desired  modification  of  form  or  constitution,  by  cross- 
ing, than  by  "  close  "  breeding.16  By  selecting  males 
with  that  development  of  locomotive  organs  that  may 
be  wished  for  in  the  offspring  from  one  breed,  and  fe- 
males with  the  desired  vital  organs  from  another,  we  can 
calculate  with  tolerable  certainty  the  character  of  the 
produce.  But  the  case  is  different  if  we  attempt  the 
same  with  parents  selected  from  the  same  family,  though 
they  may  appear  respectively  to  possess  the  same  qualifi- 
cations. We  may  succeed,  but  have  no  certainty.  The 
young  animal  may,  on  the  contrary,  inherit  the  compara- 
tively feeble  locomotive  organs  of  the  mother,  and  the  vi- 
tal organs  of  the  father.  This  latter  contingency  appears 
to  become  almost  a  certainty,  if  in-and-in  breeding  be  long 
continued  :  the  males  lose  their  force,  and  the  females  give 
the  locomotive  and  volitional  organs.  M.  Devay  says  :  — 

"  The  crossing  of  races  is  of  immense  utility  to  the 
species ;  the  neglect  of  it  is  the  cause  of  physical  degra- 
dation in  animals,  and  of  organic  and  moral  decay  in 
man.  Suppose  a  morbid  germ  in  a  family,  and  it  is  cer- 
tain that  this  germ  or  diathesis  will  tend  to  develop 
itself  more  and  more  by  consanguine  marriage,  in  the 
progeny,  the  result  of  which  will  be  extinction.  For, 
as  says  Joseph  de  Maistre,  every  organic  form  bearing 
in  itself  a  principle  of  destruction  (sic),  if  two  of  these 
principles  are  united,  they  will  produce  a  third  form,  in- 
comparably worse  ;  for  those  powers  which  unite  do  not 
add  only,  —  they  multiply.  This  explains  why '  aristo- 
cratic families  are  constantly  becoming  extinguished."17 


66  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  apply  these  principles  to  the  ques- 
tion of  consanguineous  marriages.  The  parents  are  here 
of  the  same  breed  and  family,  and  we  may  almost  with 
certainty  conclude  that  neither  of  them  will  be  free 
from  defect  or  weakness  in  some  organ ;  and  being  close- 
ly allied,  the  probability  is  that  this  organ  will  belong 
to  the  same  series  in  one  as  in  the  other.  In  such  a 
case  as  this  the  offspring  cannot  escape  the  taint  :  but 
supposing  that  in  one  the  defect  or  weakness  exists  in 
the  locomotive  and  volitional  series,  and  in  the  other  it 
exists  in  the  vital  or  emotional  organs,  seeing  that  there 
is  an  uncertainty  in  these  close  alliances  as  to  which 
parent  gives  each  series,  there  is  a  c/iance  that  the  infant 
may  inherit  the  sound  elements  of  each  constitution ; 
but,  as  vice  of  formation  has  a  strong  tendency  to  trans- 
mission, there  is  a  greater  chance  that  one  defect  at  least 
may  be  inherited ;  there  is  also  a  possibility  that,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  sound  parts  of  the  organization,  the 
unsound  elements  of  both  parents  may  descend  to  the 
child.  This  gives  a  reasonable  solution  of  the  phenom- 
enon of  two  sane  parents,  who  are  nearly  allied,  having 
an  insane  child.  One  parent  may  have  weak  volition, 
and  the  other  weak  sensation  and  emotion,  and  the  child 
inherits  both,  having  none  of  the  counterbalancing  prop- 
erties of  the  parents  separately.  The  very  same  par- 
ents, again,  may  have  another  child  who  will  inherit 
and  transmit  to  its  posterity  all  the  better  qualities  of 
mind  and  body  possessed  by  the  father  and  mother.  M. 
Campagne,  in  the  work  alluded  to  above,  refers  to  such 
facts  as  these,  and  classifies  them  as  illustrations  of  .the 
"  Law  of  Natural  Selection  "  ;  a  law  which  he  considers 
to  be  the  " Mot  d'Enigme"  as  to  the  origin  of  mania  in 
various  forms,  more  especially  the  "Manie  Raisonnante  " 
in  its  varieties  "  Orgueilleuse "  and  "  Egoi'ste."  The 
conclusion  from  all  which  is  this,  that  (theoretically) 


NATURAL  HERITAGE.  67 

marriages  in  the  same  family  are  more  likely  to  propa- 
gate and  intensify  defects,  and  from  such  defects  being 
probably  of  the  same  nature,  less  likely  to  eliminate 
them  than  unallied  marriages.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
by  these  latter  we  can  with  entire  certainty  correct  de- 
ficiencies and  weaknesses,  but  it  is  certain  that,  by 
proper  selection  of  qualities,  we  have  a  more  favorable 
prospect  of  doing  so,  since  we  are  enabled  to  form  a  very 
probable  conjecture  as  to  what  organs  will  be  transmitted 
from  each  parent  to  the  offspring.  "  For  these  reasons, 
belike,"  says  Burton,  "  the  Church  and  Commonwealth, 
human  and  divine  laws,  have  conspired  to  avoid  hered- 
itary diseases,  forbidding  such  marriages  as  are  any  whit 
allied ;  and  so  Mercatus  adviseth  all  families  to  take 
such,  si  fieri  possit,  qnce  maxime  distant  naturd,  and  to 
make  choice  of  those  that  are  most  differing  in  complex- 
ion to  them,  if  they  love  their  own  and  respect  the  com- 
mon good."  18 

Meanwhile,  observation  goes  strongly  against  the  pro- 
priety of  nearly  allied  marriages.  M.  Lucas  having 
quoted  the  opinions  of  many  breeders  to  the  effect  that 
close  breeding,  if  long  continued,  succeeds  very  badly, 
and  ends  in  the  extinction  of  species,  race,  health,  fecun- 
dity, and  viability,  thus  proceeds  :  "  History  testifies  to 
the  same  results  amongst  men  ;  the  aristocracies,  reduced 
to  repeated  intermarriages,  according  to  Niebuhr,  are 
extinguished  in  the  same  manner,  often  passing  through 
degeneration,  imbecility,  and  dementia."  Mr.  Knight 
observes :  "  Amongst  ancient  families  quick  men  are 
abundant,  but  a  deep  and  clear  reasoner  is  seldom  seen. 
How  well  and  how  readily  the  aristocracy  of  England 
speak! — how  weakly  they  reason!"  There  is  abundance 
of  historical  evidence  bearing  on  this  point,  yet  it  does 
not  to  every  mind  bear  the  same  interpretation.  Thus 
the  Jews  have  been  brought  forward  as  a  proof  of  the 


68  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

correctness  of  both  views,  —  viz.  the  propriety  and  the 
impropriety  of  allied  and  family  marriages.  Mr.  Walker 
classes  them  as  degraded,  along  with,  and  from  the  same 
causes  as,  the  Hindoos  and  the  Gypsies ;  that  is,  close 
unions  amongst  members  of  one  family.  Dr.  Steinau, 
on  the  other  hand,  upholds  the  entire  family  of  Abraham 
as  an  instance  of  the  propriety  of  such  family  connec- 
tions :  — 

"  Abraham  married  his  half-sister,  Isaac  the  daughter 
of  his  first  cousin,  and  Jacob  his  first  cousin,  furnishing 
three  near  marriages  in  succession,  and  yet  they  became 
the  foundation  of  a  stock  which,  if  not  gigantic,  like  the 
Anakim  and  their  relatives  of  Gath,  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  deficient  in  any  physical  respect ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  has  continued  to  furnish  to  the  present  day 
numerous  examples  of  various  excellence  ....  and  the 
practice  of  the  Jews  to  the  present  day  not  only  shows 
that  the  same  views  have  been  handed  down  to  the  latest 
posterity,  but  their  average  health,  longevity,  and  intelli- 
gence, under  every  circumstance  of  climate  and  mode  of 
life,  and  even  in  opposition  to  many  adverse  influences, 
are  powerful  evidences  that  the  dread  of  intermarriage 
of  relatives,  on  physical  grounds,  is  as  futile  as  that  of 
many  other  superstitious  fears." 

We  can  scarcely  admit  a  "peculiar"  and  chosen  people 
like  the  Jews  to  be  a  sufficient  argument  against  phe- 
nomena so  serious  and  so  generally  admitted.  Moreover, 
as  Dr.  Devay  observes,  "  the  Jew  offers  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances in  his  consanguinity.  Disseminated  over  the 
whole  globe,  —  nomadic  and  commercial  in  habits,  — 
they  change  almost  imperceptibly,  and  are  to  each  other, 
dwelling  in  north,  south,  or  temperate  zones,  almost  like 
different  races.  And,  after  all,  amongst  this  people,  we 
find  in  plenty  the  maladies  ascribed  to  consanguine 
unions,  and  the  Israelitish  type  has  singularly  lost  its 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  69 

force  and  beauty."  Popular  opinion  and  scientific  induc- 
tion equally  lead  to  the  impression  that,  although  one 
marriage  between  near  relatives  may  be  unattended  by 
evil  consequences  immediately  perceptible,  yet  it  is  very 
rare  that  the  second  or  third  is  so  innocent.  There 
usually  arises  amongst  the  children  resulting  from  such 
unions  a  tendency  to  disorders,  functional  or  organic,  of 
the  nervous  system,  or  of  the  nutritive  organs,  tending 
in  the  former  case  to  unsoundness  of  mind,  and  in  the 
latter  to  conditions  bordering  on  scrofula  or  some  allied 
affection.  M.  Devay  found  in  the  children  proceeding 
from  121  consanguine  marriages,  22  cases  of  sterility 
(actual  and  virtual),  27  cases  of  various  deformities,  and 
2  deaf-mutes.  Dr.  Boinet  knew  5  idiots  in  5  different 
families  sprung  from  this  sort  of  marriage.  A  celebrated 
lawyer,  married  to  a  cousin,  lost  3  children  from  hydro- 
cephalus.  A  manufacturer  at  Lyons,  similarly  married, 
had  14  children  :  8  died  of  convulsions  at  an  early  age  ; 
only  one  survived  ;  the  remainder  died  of  scrofulous  af- 
fections. In  my  own  circle  of  acquaintance  I  know 
several  families  where  there  is  an  idiot  child,  or  where 
many  of  the  members  have  the  most  strongly  marked 
nervous  peculiarities,  to  which  the  parents  and  ancestry 
were  strangers,  and  for  which  there  seemed  to  be  no 
plausible  reason,  except  that  their  parents  were  cousins, 
and  that  the  families  had  been  in  the  habit  of  intermar- 
rying. 

This  subject  of  consanguine  marriage  appears  to  me  of 
so  much  importance  that  I  am  induced  to  give  some  fur- 
ther illustrations.  Dr.  Bemiss,  of  Louisville,  has  col- 
lected the  particulars  of  34  consanguine  marriages,  from 
which  result  the  following  important  details.  Seven  of 
these,  or  slightly  more  than  one  fifth,  were  unfruitful. 
From  the  27  fruitful  marriages,  192  children  were  born ; 
of  these  58  perished  in  infancy  or  early  life.  Of  the  134 


70  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

who  arrived  at  maturity,  46  appear  to  be  healthy ;  32 
are  reported  as  "  deteriorated,"  but  without  absolute 
disease  ;  9  others  are  not  reported  upon  as  to  physical 
condition.  The  remaining  47  are  manifestly  diseased  : 
23  are  scrofulous,  4  are  epileptic,  2  are  insane,  2  are 
dumb,  4  are  idiots,  2  are  blind,  2  are  deformed,  5  are 
albinos,  6  have  defective  vision,  and  one  has  chorea.  If 
these  numbers  be  compared  with  the  proportions  of  those 
in  the  entire  population  suffering  from  the  corresponding 
diseases,  we  shall  observe  a  most  striking  proponderance 
here.  To  mention  but  one  instance,  that  of  epilepsy  : 
this  disease  is  calculated  by  M.  Herpin,  a  distinguished 
French  physician,  to  occur  about  six  times  in  1,000  of 
the  population  ;  even  this  is  considered  by  many  to  be 
too  high  an  estimate  •  yet  in  the  case  of  these  consan- 
guine marriages  we  find  4  cases  in  134  individuals.  The 
statistics  collected  by  Dr.  Howe  are  still  more  decided. 
In  his  report  on  idiocy  he  mentions  the  details  of  17 
marriages  of  blood-relations,  from  which  resulted  95 
children.  Of  these,  44  were  idiots,  12  scrofulous  and 
puny,  1  deaf,  1  dwarf:  only  37  of  even  tolerable  health. 
From  numerous  instances  under  my  own  observation  I 
select  but  one,  that  of  a  marriage  between  cousins  be- 
longing to  a  family  that  had  intermarried  more  than 
once  before.  From  this  marriage  resulted  several  chil- 
dren ;  one  was  an  utter  idiot ;  a  second  was  nearly  so,  and 
had  deformed  hands  ;  a  third  was  epileptic,  and  mani- 
fested depraved  tendencies ;  the  others  were,  with  one 
exception,  of  a  low  grade  of  intellectual  development. 
The  exceptional  case  was  a  female,  who  died  not  long 
after  marriage ;  her  first  and  only  child  died  of  a 
convulsive  disorder.  These  facts  might  be  indefinitely 
multiplied,  but  they  are  sufficient  for  purposes  of  illus- 
tration ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  are  of  the 
gravest  significance. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  71 

M.  Boudin  has  recently  been  engaged  in  researches  on 
this  subject.  He  gathers  from  extensive  statistics  in 
France,  that,  whilst  consanguine  marriages  are  about  2 
per  cent  of  the  whole  number,  the  proportion  of  deaf 
and  dumb  children  issuing  from  such  marriages  are  nearly 
a  quarter  of  the  whole  number.  He  finds  that  in  various 
classes  of  the  population  the  proportion  of  deaf-mutes 
increases  in  the  ratio  of  the  allowance  of  consanguine 
unions.  Taking  10,000  Catholics,  amongst  whom  these 
unions  are  not  permitted,  he  finds  the  proportion  of  3 
deaf-mutes,  whilst  in  an  equal  number  of  Protestants 
there  were  6,  and  27  in  an  equal  number  of  Jews,  where 
such  marriages  are  more  frequent.  Tn  one  part  of  the 
United  States  also  he  compares  the  number  of  deaf-mutes 
amongst  10,000  of  the  white  population,  and  an  equal 
number  of  the  slaves,  where  promiscuous  marriages  are 
frequent.  In  the  former  there  is  an  average  of  less  than 
2£,  whilst  in  the  latter  there  are  212.  He  finds  that 
consanguine  unions  also  favor  in  equal  proportion  the 
production  of  albinism,  mental  alienation,  idiocy,  and 
other  infirmities.19 

When  will  these  things  be  believed  1 

Thus  reason,  theory,  and  observation  combine  to  prove 
the  impropriety  of  consanguine  unions,  and  the  advisa- 
bility of  a  contrast  of  constitution  or  race  in  the  parents. 
There  is  also  what  may  be  termed  a  factitious  consan- 
guinity, arising  from  identity  or  similarity  of  position, 
manners,  customs,  habits  of  life,  occupation,  <fec.,  which 
institute  necessarily  the  same  constitution  and  tempera- 
ment, and  give  proclivity  to  the  same  morbid  affections. 
Marriages  between  persons  so  constituted  are  liable  to  be 
attended,  though  j>erhaps  not  to  the  same  extent,  by 
similar  inconveniences  to  those  amongst  actual  relatives. 
Lallemand  remarks,  that  "  nothing  is  more  favorable  to 
the  improvement  of  populations  than  their  crossing  with 


72  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

those  who  live  in  opposed  conditions,  because  evil  ten- 
dencies on  each  side  neutralize  each  other  in  the  offspring, 
and  because  each  supplies  what  the  other  needs.  It  is 
thus  that  the  most  beautiful  families  of  the  south  are 
those  which  proceed  from  Germans  or  Hollanders  allied 
to  women  of  the  country."  M.  Devay  also  remarks,  that 
those  families  of  Berlin  which  are  most  remarkable  for 
their  beauty,  their  force,  and  their  intelligence,  proceed 
from  French  exiles  married  to  young  ladies  of  Berlin. 
Dr.  Prichard  remarks  that,  "  in  some  parts  of  Ireland, 
where  the  Celtic  population  of  that  island  is  nearly  un- 
mixed, they  are,  in  general,  a  people  of  short  stature, 
small  limbs  and  features ;  where  they  are  mixed  with 
English  settlers,  or  with  the  Lowlanders  of  Scotland,  the 
people  are  remarkable  for  fine  figures,  tall  stature,  and 
great  physical  energy." 

Leaving  this  point,  I  pass  on  to  notice  the  results  of 
certain  vicious  habits  in  the  parents  upon  their  offspring  ; 
amongst  which,  standing  out  in  bold  relief,  we  notice 
intemperance,  which  we  shall  take  as  illustrating  suffi- 
ciently the  whole  series  of  vices.  We  have  already 
noticed  the  hereditary  nature  of  drunkenness,  and  some 
of  its  morbid  results  ;  we  have  now  to  trace  more 
especially  some  of  the  modifications  caused  in  the  phy- 
sical and  moral  nature  of  the  child,  due  to  such  habits 
in  the  parent. 

The  first  point  to  be  noticed  is  this,  that  the  habit  of 
the  parent,  when  inherited,  does  not  appear  in  the  child 
merely  as  a  habit,  but  in  most  cases  as  an  irresistible 
impulse,  a  disease.  This  disease,  known  as  oinomania, 
or  dipsomania,  is  quite  readily  to  be  distinguished  from 
ordinary  intemperate  habits  ;  it  is  characterized  by  a  re- 
cent writer  in  the  Psychological  Journal  as  "  an  impulsive 
desire  for  stimulant  drinks,  uncontrollable  by  any  motives 
that  can  be  addressed  to  the  understanding  or  conscience, 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  73 

in  which  self-interest,  self-esteem,  friendship,  love,  relig- 
ion, are  appealed  to  in  vain ;  in  which  the  passion  for 
drink  is  the  master  passion,  and  subdues  to  itself  every 

other  desire  and  faculty  of  the  soul The  victims 

of  it  are  often  the  offspring  of  persons  who  have  indulged 
in  stimulants,  or  who  have  weakened  the  cerebrum  by 
vicious  habits  or  undue  mental  labor."  The  same  writer 
gives,  amongst  other  striking  illustrations,  the  follow- 
ing :  "  In  the  case  of  a  member  of  an  artistic  profes- 
sion there  is  great  natural  talent  and  aptitude  for 
business,  so  that  he  gives  the  highest  satisfaction  to  his 
employers ;  but  at  varying  intervals  of  time  —  from  a 
few  weeks  to  several  months  —  the  oinomaniac  is  absent 
for  several  days  from  his  office  on  a  drunken  'spree.' 
When  he  returns,  great  is  his  remorse,  bitter  his  self- 
condemnation,  loud  and  resolutely  expressed  his  promises 
to  resist  temptation.  For  a  while  all  goes  on  well ;  but, 
sooner  or  later,  the  temptation  comes,  the  alcoholic 
stimulant  is  presented,  is  irresistible,  and  a  paroxysm  is 
the  result,  ending  as  before.  Now,  the  brother  of  this  im- 
pulsive oinomaniac  is  the  victim  of  continuous  drunken- 
ness ;  the  father  of  both  was  a  continuous  drunkard, 
who  believed  himself  to  be  a  teapot,  to  be  made  of 
glass,  &c.,  and  who,  in  a  paroxysm  of  inebriate  fury, 
burnt  a  cat  alive ;  and  the  grandmother's  brother  was 
also  an  impulsive,  and  finally  a  continuous  oinomaniac. 
It  is  related  of  this  grand-uncle  that,  his  friends  having 
taken  away  his  clothes  on  a  Sunday  morning,  hoping  to 
confine  him  to  the  house,  he  went  into  his  warehouse, 
and  donning  a  funeral  cloak,  made  his  way  to  the  dram- 
shop. These  cases  illustrate  the  hereditary  transmission 
of  the  predisposition  from  generation  to  generation." 

Now  glance  at  a  sketch  of  a  similar  condition  given 
by  M.  Morel,  and  then  ask  how  far  such  an  individual  is 
a  responsible  being  :  — 


74  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

"  Such  cases  present  themselves  to  our  observation 
with  the  predominance  of  a  phenomenon,  of  the  psychical 

order,  which  1  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention,  — 
i.  e.  a  complete  abolition  of  all  the  moral  sentiments.  One 
might  say  that  no  distinction  between  good  and  evil  re- 
mains in  the  minds  of  these  degraded  beings.  They  have 
desolated  and  ruined  their  families  without  experiencing 
the  least  regret  ;  in  the  acute  state  of  their  delirium 
they  have  nearly  destroyed  all  that  came  in  their  way, 
and  preserve  no  remembrance  of  it.  The  love  of  vaga- 
bondism seems  to  govern  the  acts  of  a  great  number  of 
them.  They  quit  their  homes  without  troubling  them- 
selves where  they  may  go  ;  they  cannot  explain  the 
motives  of  their  disorderly  tendencies  ;  their  existence  is 
passed  in  the  extremes!  apathy,  the  most  absolute  indif- 
ference, and  volition  seems  to  be  replaced  by  a  stupid 
automatism." 

This,  by  its  phenomena,  its  progress,  and  its  termina- 
tion, is  clearly  marked  as  a  diseased  condition,  and  under 
its  influence  infractions  of  social  right  and  order  are  often 
committed,  wrhich  are  in  the  present  state  of  our  law 
punished  as  crimes,  instead  of  being  treated  as  diseases, 
and  for  which  we  should  hold  the  unfortunate  subject  to 
be  as  irresponsible  as  any  other  maniac,  and  remove  him 
from  society,  and  from  the  means  whereby  to  gratify  his 
morbid  propensities  accordingly.  For,  what  is  really  the 
state  of  the  case  1  This  unhappy  person  is  born  with  a 
strong  tendency  towards  vice,  inherited  perhaps  from  his 
own  parents  ;  perhaps,  in  still  more  confirmed  cases, 
from  a  long  line  of  vicious  ancestry.  Theoretically  con- 
sidered, this  impulsive  tendency  may  probably  not  be 
absolutely  irresistible,  but  practically  it  is  almost  if  not 
altogether  so.  For  whilst  the  organism  is  so  constituted 
as  to  receive  vividly  impressions  of  temptation,  the  force 
of  the  will  and  the  power  of  resistance  are  indefinitely 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  75 

diminished,  so  that  moral  liberty  must  be  considered  as 
in  abeyance.  This  diminution  of  the  power  of  the  will  is 
one  of  the  most  constant  phenomena  attendant  both  upon 
drinking  and  opium-eating. 

"  This,"  says  a  writer  already  quoted,  "  is  a  very  im- 
portant point  in  the  history  of  oinomania,  especially  in 
relation  to  those  forms  which  are  clearly  to  be  traced  to 
hereditary  transmission,  either  from  insane  parents  or 
from  those  who  have  enfeebled  their  cerebrum  by  nervine 
stimulants.  Indeed,  this  inferiority  of  the  will  is  itself 
virtually  a  species  of  imbecility,  not  always,  doubtless, 
accompanied  by  imbecility  of  intellect,  but  occasionally, 
on  the  contrary,  associated  with  the  highest  powers  of 
thought  and  imagination." 

The  two  Coleridges,  father  and  son,  exemplify  this 
point  most  strikingly  ;  the  elder  was  an  opium-eater,  and 
writes  of  himself  that,  not  only  in  reference  to  this  sen- 
sual indulgence,  but  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  his  will 
was  utterly  powerless.  Hartley  Coleridge  inherited  hia 
father's  necessity  for  stimulant  (which  in  his  case  was 
alcoholic),  and  with  it  his  weakness  of  volition.  Even 
when  young,  his  brother  thus  writes  of  him  :  "  A  cer- 
tain infirmity  of  will  had  already  shown  itself.  His  sensi- 
bility was  intense,  and  he  had  not  wherewithal  to  control 
it.  He  could  not  open  a  letter  without  trembling.  He 
shrank  from  mental  pain  ;  he  was  beyond  measure  im- 
patient of  constraint He  yielded,  as  it  were  un- 

co7isciously,  to  slight  temptations,  —  slight  in  themselves, 
and  slight  to  him,  as  if  swayed  by  a  mechanical  impulse 
apart  from  his  own  volition.  It  looked  like  an  organic 
defect,  a  congenital  imperfection."  He  was  well  aware 
of  his  own  weakness.  In  one  of  his  books  he  wrote  as 
follows  :  — 

"  Oh  !  woful  impotence  of  weak  resolve. 
Recorded  rashly  to  the  writer's  shame, 


76  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

Pays  pass  away,  and  time's  large  orbs  revolve, 
And  every  day  beholds  me  still  the  same, 
Till  oft-neglected  purpose  loses  aim, 
And  hope  becomes  a  flat  unheeded  lie." 

These  exalted  types  of  mind  contrasted  with  such  weak- 
nesses are  not  common  ;  but  the  weakness  itself  in  its 
most  aggravated  form  is  so.  Such  men  are  not  respon- 
sible, in  the  sense  in  which  soundly  organi/ed  men  are, 
The  elder  Coleridge  knew  that  he  was  not,  and  wished  to 
be  sent  to  an  asylum  to  be  cured  of  his  propensities  ;  thia 
was  not  effected,  but  he  had  a  constant  special  attendant 
for  the  purpose.  But  there  is  no  such  resource  as  this 
for  those  in  the  lower  walks  of  life,  and  of  lower  orders 
of  intellect.  Their  temptations  are  more  gross,  and  are 
not  unfrequently  indulged  by  means  of  theft  or  violence, 
and  the  perpetrators  are  treated  as  common  malefactors. 
They  are  perhaps  imprisoned  ;  and  for  the  time  this  is 
salutary,  because  they  cannot  obtain  drink  :  but  they 
constantly  relapse,  and  are  constantly  repunished  ;  and 
hence  is  ever  recruited  that  hopeless  and  incorrigible  body 
of  our  criminal  population,  the  stock  and  capital  of  our 
police-courts.  This  system  is  manifestly  unjust  ;  there 
is  wilful  crime  in  plenty  in  the  world,  but  there  is  also 
disease  of  mind  which  resembles  and  re-enacts  crime  ; 
and  to  punish  this  disease  is  neither  humane  nor  reason- 
able ;  for  punishment,  far  from  curing,  chiefly  exacerbates 
it.  For  the  continuance  of  it  there  are  two  principal 
reasons  ;  one  of  which  is  trivial  enough,  whilst  the  other 
contains  practical  difficulties  of  no  ordinary  character,  and 
which  may  for  some  time  to  come  prove  insuperable.  The 
first  to  which  I  allude  is  this,  —  there  are  enlightened  men 
in  all  professions  who  recognize  mental  unsoundness  as 
forming  a  very  material  element  in  human  actions,  but 
they  are  still  in  the  minority.  In  courts  of  justice  this 
plea  is  occasionally  brought  forward,  in  accordance  with 


NATURAL  HERITAGE.  77 

the  dictates  of  humanity  and  true  philosophy  ;  but  in 
the  special  case  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  the  name 
is  unfortunate.  No  sooner  is  it  proved  that  the  accused 
is  laboring  under  the  disease  called  dipsomania,  than  the 
opposed  counsel  makes  the  inevitable  pun  of  "tipso- 
mania,"  and  few  juries  are  proof  against  so  cogent  an 
argument.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  occurred 
not  long  ago  in  one  of  our  courts.  The  second  reason  is 
of  a  much  more  serious  nature,  it  is  one  of  distinction. 
It  is  feared  that  crime  might  go  unpunished  under  the 
name  of  disease,  and  that  so  encouragement  might  be 
given  to  vicious  propensities  and  actions.  That  this 
would  be  a  difficulty  in  actual  administration  there  is  no 
doubt  ;  but  if  the  position  be  true,  should  this  considera- 
tion stand  in  the  way  of  its  due  recognition  1 

In  France,  a  person  accused  of  crime,  but  showing  signs 
of  such  a  disease,  is  submitted  to  the  examination  of  a 
commission  appointed  for  the  purpose  to  decide  whether 
he  is  in  a  responsible  state  of  mind  or  otherwise.  If  he 
is  considered  responsible,  the  jury  try  the  facts  as  in 
ordinary  cases,  and  the  judgment  proceeds  ;  if  not,  the 
facts  are  still  tried,  but  seclusion  in  an  asylum  is  sub- 
stituted for  other  punishment.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
under  this  system  criminals  escape  punishment,  for  it 
may  fairly  be  questioned  whether,  to  a  man  sane  and 
merely  vicious,  the  isolation  in  such  an  institution,  and 
the  inability  therein  involved  to  gratify  his  natural  tastes 
and  evil  inclinations,  is  not  a  greater  punishment  than 
the  treadmill  or  other  labor  would  be. 

The  instincts  of  these  oinomaniacs,  and  those  suffer- 
ing under  an  analogous  affection,  the  erotomaniacs,  seem 
to  be  as  violent  and  as  little  under  any  control  from  the 
intellect  or  will,  as  those  of  a  carnivorous  animal  when 
it  smells  or  tastes  blood ;  or  as  the  condition  alluded  to 
in  these  lines  in  reference  to  another  appetite  :  — 


78  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBI^fS. 

Nonne  vides  ut  tutu  tremor  pertentet  equonim 
Corpora,  si  tnntam  notas  <xlor  attulit  auras? 
At  neque  eos  jam  frrena  vinim,  ncque  verbcra  s.Tvn, 
Non  scopuli  rupt'sqw  earn',  utque  objecta  retardunt. 
Flumina,  correptos  mulfi  torquentia  niontes." 

I  am  not  now  concerned  to  point  out  the  precise  mode 
of  investigation ;  1  assert  that  there  is  a  disease  such 
as  is  described  above,  —  a  disease  almost  as  well  and 
characteristically  marked,  in  its  psychical  aspect,  as 
small-pox  is  in  its  physical ;  that  this  disease  is  heredi- 
tary ;  and  that  the  victims  of  such  sad  heritage  crowd 
our  criminal  assemblies.  Let  but  this  be  once  under- 
stood by  our  authorities,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before 
means  will  be  found  to  erect  an  equitable  system  of 
judgment  upon  it ;  and  amongst  these  means,  the  most 
efficient  will  be  a  reference  to  ancestry. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  that  children  should  always 
inherit  the  actual  alcoholic  tendencies  of  their  parents 
in  order  to  present  a  type  of  progressive  degradation. 
Some  of  them,  many  indeed,  enter  the  world  completely 
degenerate,  in  the  condition  of  hopeless  imbeciles  or 
idiots.  A  forcible  illustration  of  this  point  is  found  in 
Norway,  where  the  spirit  duty  was  removed  in  1825. 
Between  that  time  and  1835  the  increase  of  insanity 
amounted  to  above  50  per  cent  on  the  previous  propor- 
tion !  but  the  increase  of  congenital  idiocy  was  150  per 
cent.  Out  of  three  hundred  idiots  examined  by  Dr. 
Howe  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  145  were  the  chil- 
dren of  intemperate  parents.  In  Sweden,  200,000,000  of 
litres  (say  pints)  of  some  form  of  spirit  are  consumed  an- 
nually. If,  from  the  population  of  3,000,000  we  take 
an  allowance  of  half  for  young  children,  some  women, 
and  those  who  from  education  and  common  sense  re- 
strain themselves  within  due  bounds  of  temperance,  we 
shall  find  1,500,000  persons  who  each  consume  from  80 
to  100  pints  of  spirit  (whiskey  I)  annually.  Children  of 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  79 

eight,  ten,  or  twelve  years  of  age  drink  like  their  parents  : 
the  parents  know  no  better  way  of  quieting  their  infants 
than  giving  them  linen  soaked  in  whiskey  to  suck.  Dr, 
Magnus  Huss  testifies,  as  a  consequence  of  all  this,  that 
the  whole  people  is  degenerating  ;  that  insanity,  suicide, 
and  crime  are  frightfully  on  the  increase  ;  that  new  and 
aggravated  diseases  have  invaded  all  classes  of  society  ; 
that  sterility  and  the  premature  death  of  children  is 
much  more  common  ;  and  that  congenital  imbecility  and 
idiocy  are  in  fearful  proportion  to  the  numbers  born. 

Other  children  born  of  intemperate  parents  live  intel- 
lectually up  to  a  certain  age ;  after  which  they  either 
remain  stationary,  or  gradually  sink  back  into  a  state 
almost  resembling  idiocy.  "  After  having  painfully  ac- 
quired some  degree  of  information  and  fitness  for  occu- 
pation, they  find  themselves  not  only  capable  of  no  fur- 
ther progress,  but  they  become  successively  incapable  of 
fulfilling  their  functions  "  (Morel) ;  and  all  this,  it  must 
be  remembered,  without  any  actual  transgression  of 
their  own.  The  above-quoted  writer  gives  many  melan- 
choly histories  of  these  lamentable  heritages,  one  or 

two  of  which  I   shall  briefly  quote.     F was  the  son 

of  an  excellent  workingman  who  had  early  given  him- 
self up  to  drinking.  The  son  inherited  the  tendency, 
and  to  such  an  extent  that  "  il  profana  des  la  premiere 
nuit  la  couche  nuptiale  en  s'y  introduisant  dans  un  com- 
plet  etat  d'ivresse."  He  had  seven  children,  of  whose 
history  the  following  is  a  summary.  The  first  two  died 
of  convulsions.  The  third  had  attained  some  skill  in 
handicraft,  but  fell  away  into  a  state  of  idiocy  at  twenty- 
two  years  of  age.  The  fourth  attained  a  certain  amount 
of  intelligence,  which  he  could  not  exceed,  and  relapsed 
into  profound  melancholy  with  a  tendency  to  suicide, 
which  terminated  in  harmless  imbecility.  The  fifth  is 
of  a  peculiar  and  irritable  character,  and  has  broken  all 


80  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

relations  with  his  family.  The  sixth  was  a  daughter 
with  the  strongest  hysteric  tendencies ;  profoundly  im- 
pressed with  the  sad  spectacle  of  her  family,  she  has 
been  seriously  troubled  in  her  reason  repeatedly.  The 
seventh  is  a  remarkably  intelligent  workman,  but  ex- 
tremely nervous  and  depressed  :  he  indulges  in  the  most 
despairing  anticipations  with  regard  to  his  life  and  rea- 
son. 

Innumerable  are  the  forms  in  which  this  evil  tendency 
acts  upon  the  offspring.  As  has  been  before  remarked, 
they  need  not  inherit  the  identical  habits  or  dispositions 
of  the  parents ;  but  they  inherit  a  faulty,  defective,  or 
vicious  organization,  which  develops  itself  in  the  most 
varied  forms  of  disease  or  character.  It  may,  in  one  of 
the  children  only,  manifest  itself  in  a  simple  neuro- 
pathy, a  hysterical  tendency,  an  oddity  or  peculiarity  of 
manner  or  of  disposition ;  but  all  these,  when  due  to  such 
an  origin,  are  capable  of  giving  rise  to  affections  of  the 
mind  of  the  gravest  possible  significance  in  the  next 
generation. 

The  writer  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  the 
illustrations  quoted  on  the  sutyect  of  intemperance  men- 
tions the  following  case  :  — 

"  A  merchant  is  under  our  notice,  affected  with  hope- 
less imbecility  and  general  paralysis,  for  years  before  his 
mental  disorder  manifested  symptoms  of  cerebral  dis- 
ease. One  of  these  was,  that  after  smoking  a  cigar  he 
could  not  lift  his  eyelids  so  as  to  open  his  eyes,  nor  on 
some  occasions  could  he  articulate  the  word  he  would 
utter.  He  took  alcoholic  drinks  in  quantity  far  beyond 
the  power  of  resistance  of  his  brain,  and  fell  a  victim  to 
their  morbific  action.  Now  this  individual  has  a  son 
and  a  daughter  approaching  adult  life.  The  former  has 
been  subject  from  childhood,  at  varying  intervals,  to 
paroxysms  of  extreme  terror  and  distress,  arising  from 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  81 

no  obvious  or  known  cause,  very  similar  to  those  which 
attack  the  oinomaniacs,  but  as  yet  (being  but  sixteen 
years  of  age)  without  the  impulsive  desire  for  stimu- 
lants. Previously  to  the  attack  there  is  great  irritabil- 
ity and  restlessness,  with  a  tendency  to  sleep ;  then  the 
outbreak  of  inexplicable  terror  commences,  usually  in 
the  night,  continuing  for  two  or  three  days.  When  it 
subsides,  he  is  left  weak,  ill,  and  exhausted.  The  daugh- 
ter, on  the  contrary,  is  passionately  fond  of  every  kind 
of  pleasure,  as  dancing,  society,  <fec.  ;  excels  in  artistic 
accomplishments,  and  is  singularly  vivacious  and  ani- 
mated. Both  these  children  have  manifestly  derived 
from  their  father  a  cerebral  constitution  which  will  en- 
danger their  well-being  and  happiness  as  years  advance, 
by  predisposing  to  the  development  of  those  insane  im- 
pulses which  we  have  discussed,  or  to  various  forms  of 
melancholia." 

I  append  an  additional  note  from  M.  Morel :  — 
"  I  constantly  find  the  sad  victims  of  the  alcoholic 
intoxication  of  their  parents  in  their  favorite  resorts 
(milieux  de  predilection),  the  asylums  for  the  insane, 
prisons,  and  houses  of  correction.  I  as  constantly 
observe  amongst  them  deviations  from  the  normal  type 
of  humanity,  manifesting  themselves  not  only  by  arrests 
of  development  and  anomalies  of  constitution,  but  also 
by  those  vicious  dispositions  of  the  intellectual  order 
which  seem  to  be  deeply  rooted  in  the  organization  of 
these  unfortunates,  and  which  are  the  unmistakable 
indices  of  their  double  fecundation  in  respect  of  both  phys- 
ical and  moral  evil."  ** 

Differences  of  social  rank  and  condition  exert  a  power- 
ful influence  upon  these  results  :  the  children  of  the  rich 
intemperate  may  be  weak,  nervous,  excitable,  and  prone 
to  morbid  conditions  of  mind  and  body,  yet  they  have 
advantages  which  those  in  lower  life  have  not.  They 

4*  P 


82  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEM 

have  plentiful  and  healthful  food,  and  under  ordinary 
circumstances  they  have  a  well-regulated  physical  and 
mental  education.  The  practice  of  their  parents  is  not 
constantly  enforced  both  by  example  and  a  sort  of  neces- 
sity ;  and  the  tendencies  which  they  have  inherited  are 
not  generally  fostered  by  an  entirely  depraved  moral 
medium.  Far  different  is  the  lot  of  the  children  of  the 
intemperate  poor :  born  in  the  midst  of  abject  poverty, 
misery  and  privation  is  their  lot  from  their  earliest  in- 
fancy ;  and  their  want  of  the  common  necessaries  of 
life,  with  complete  ignorance  of  its  comforts,  prompts 
them  to  the  commission  of  crimes  and  to  the  indulgence 
of  their  hereditary  tastes,  to  relieve  their  immediate 
wants  and  sufferings.  And  thus  their  impulsive  nature, 
so  far  from  being  checked  by  any  moral  considerations, 
is  placed  in  a  very  hot-bed  for  its  evil  development. 
Yet,  different  as  is  their  station,  in  one  particular  they 
are  alike,  —  the  offspring  of  the  confirmed  drunkard, 
rich  or  poor,  will  inherit  either  the  original  vice  or  some 
of  its  countless  protean  transformations.  The  external 
aspect  may  in  one  case  be  less  revolting  and  coarse  than 
in  the  other,  but  none,  as  a  rule,  can  escape  the  inevita- 
ble law,  written  in  the  most  hidden  recesses  of  our  na- 
ture, in  accordance  with  which  the  children  do  suffer  for 
the  sins  of  the  parent,  and  even  at  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  the  taint  is  hardly  wiped  away,  save  by  the 
extinction  of  the  line  or  family.  For  the  disease  which 
leads  to  these  sad  consequences  there  is  but  one  cure,  — 
total  and  entire  restraint ;  so  as  to  prevent  for  a  long 
period  any  possibility  of  indulgence  in  the  depraved 
tastes  and  habits  :  even  this  is  too  often  unsuccessful. 
For  a  time,  under  this  enforced  discipline,  a  cure  seems 
to  be  effected ;  but,  when  the  subject  of  it  is  liberated, 
he  too  often  takes  unto  him  seven  other  devils,  and  the 
state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  at  the  first.  It  would, 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  83 

I  think,  be  waste  of  time  merely  to  point  out  the  very 
obvious  practical  conclusions  from  the  foregoing  con- 
siderations ;  and  the  duties  which  a  due  recognition  of 
their  truth  entails  both  upon  individuals  and  upon 
society  at  large. 

I  have  entered  thus  at  length  into  the  subject  of  in- 
toxication as  affecting  after-generations,  intending  it  as 
a  typical  illustration  of  the  mode  in  which  all  vices 
affect  progressive  human  welfare  :  and  because  I  believe 
that  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  in  what  is  called 
moderation,  is  a  fearfully  growing  evil  in  our  country. 
With  regard  to  other  vices,  I  must  only  briefly  observe, 
that  whatever  has  a  tendency  to  lower  the  physical, 
intellectual,  or  moral  tone  of  the  parent  has  a  tendency, 
seldom  lost,  to  exert  a  disastrous  influence  over  the  future 
well-being  of  the  child.  Let  the  source  of  degeneration 
be  what  it  may,  the  offspring  will  inherit  a  body  or  mind 
bearing  traces  of  imperfect  fitness  or  balance,  which 
sooner  or  later  will  assert  its  presence  and  power. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  briefly  review  the  results  of  this 
inquiry. 

1.  In  procreation,  as  in  creation,  we  everywhere  trace 
the  operation  of  two  principles,  Similarity  and  Diver- 
sity. 

2.  In  obedience  to  the  law  of  similarity,  "  like  pro- 
duces like,"  equally  in  species,  in  races,  and  in  families. 

3.  In  obedience  to  the  law  of  diversity,  children  dif- 
fer from  their  parents  and  from  each  other.     In  accord- 
ance also  with  this  law,  there  is  the  power  of  returning 
to  the  specific  type,  whatever  may  have  been  the  modifi- 
cations produced  accidentally,  or  by  the  influence  of 
circumstances,   upon   the  race ;    even    as,   according  to 
Mr.  Darwin,  the  different  varieties  of  pigeon  evince  a 
tendency  to  return  to  the  "  blue  rock  "  type. 

4.  We  have  seen  reason  to  conclude  that  these  two 


84  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS 

laws  are  not  so  much  opposed  as  their  names  would 
appear  to  imply ;  but  that  diversity  is  produced  by 
the  very  potency  of  operation  of  the  law  of  similarity, 
whereby  temporary  and  accidental  conditions  are  propa- 
gated. 

5.  Every  formation  of  body,   internal    or   external ; 
every  deformity  or  deficiency,  from  disease  or  accident ; 
every  habit  and  every  aptitude,  —  all  these  are  liable  to 
be,  or  may  be,  transmitted  to  the  offspring.     In  the  case 
of  accidental  defects   and  modifications  of  the  specific 
type,  the  offspring  usually  do  not  inherit  them,  but  re- 
turn to  the  normal  type. 

6.  Intellectual  endowments  and  aptitudes  are  liable 
to  transmission ;  and  according  to  the  mental   cultiva- 
tion or  neglect  of  the  parents  will  be  (as  a  general  rule) 
the  capacity  and  facility  of  learning  of  the  children. 
This  will  be  more  evident  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  generations  through  which  such  cultivation  or  neglect 
has  been  practised. 

7.  All  moral  qualities  are  transmissible  from  parent 
to  child,  with  this  important  addition,  that,  in  the  case 
of  vicious  tendencies  or  habits,  the  simple  practice  of 
the  parent  becomes  the  passion,  the  mania,  the  all  but 
irresistible  impulse  of  the  child. 

8.  Even  when  the  very  identical  vice  is  not  inherited, 
a  morbid  organization  is  the  result,  which  shows  itself 
in  some  allied  morbid  tendency  or  some  serious  physical 
lesion. 

9.  All   chronic  diseases   appear  to  be  transmissible, 
either  in  the  original  form,  or  in  the  form  of  a  trans- 
formation of  the  morbid  tendency. 

10.  These  inheritances,  normal  or  abnormal,  are  not 
always  immediate  from  the  parents,  or  even  in  a  direct 
line ;  but  they  miss  one  or  more  generations,  and  some- 
times have  only  appeared  in  collateral  branches,  as  an 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  85 

uncle  or  grand-uncle,  &c.  The  reason  for  this  may  be 
deduced  from  what  has  been  stated  above.  A  man,  for 
instance,  does  not  inherit  all  the  qualities  of  his  father 
or  mother ;  and  of  those  which  he  does  inherit,  only 
some  are  developed,  whilst  others  remain  latent,  and  are 
probably  developed  in  a  brother  or  sister.  But  his  son 
may  in  turn  inherit  the  same  faculties,  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  those  which  were  but  latent  or  potential  in 
the  father  are  fully  manifested  in  him ;  and  so  he  comes 
to  resemble  not  his  own  father  (or  mother)  so  much  as 
his  uncle  or  aunt,  or  some  more  distant  relative,  still 
descended  from  one  common  stock. 

11.  Of  all  morbid  heritages,  unsoundness  of  mind  in 
its  numerous  forms  seems  to  be  the  most  certain  and 
constant ;  and  the  results  form  a  considerable  proportion 
of  our  criminal  population. 

12.  But  whilst  by  the  law  of  Similarity  children  be- 
come subject  to  the  imperfections  of  their  parents,  by 
the  law  of  Diversity  they  are  enabled  to  escape  from 
them  ;  these  evils    are  not  necessarily  entailed,  and    a 
proper  comprehension  of  the  principles  upon  which  these 
diversities  depend,  enables  us  to  take  such  measures  as 
will  facilitate  this  escape.     And  whilst  on  the  one  hand 
we  see  unhealthy  children  proceeding  from  healthy  par- 
ents, on  the  other  we  see  the  morbid  tendencies  of  the 
parents  counteracting  each  other,  and  giving  rise  to  a 
healthy  offspring. 

13.  The  offspring  of  that  large  portion  of  our  popula- 
tions who  are  given  up  to  intemperance  and  other  forms 
of  vice  inherit  from  their  parents  strong  impulses  and 
feeble  wills,  so  as  to  become  more  or  less  irresponsible, 
and  bear  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  law,  —  a  relation 
which  urgently  claims   an   attention  and  investigation 
which  it  has  as  yet  very  imperfectly  received. 

14.  It  is  highly  improbable,  and  perhaps  undesirable, 


86  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

that  matrimonial  unions  should  ever  be  formed  on  the 
scientific  principle  which  would  lead  to  the  fulfilment  of 
the  possibilities  hinted  at  in  the  foregoing  observations ; 
yet  a  due  consideration  of  such  principles  may  be  ser- 
viceable in  avoiding  glaring  and  palpable  evils,  if  not  in 
producing  the  actual  benefit  which  might  accrue  under 
other  arrangements. 

There  are  two  branches  of  the  subject  which  I  have 
been  compelled  to  pass  over  entirely  without  notice. 
The  first  is  the  influence  of  the  maternal  imagination 
over  the  formation  and  future  character  of  the  offspring, 
—  a  subject  of  very  great  interest  and  importance,  but 
too  extensive  to  be  now  entered  upon.  The  second  is 
the  much  agitated  question  as  to  the  share  which  the 
parents  respectively  have  in  the  formation  of  the  phys- 
ical and  moral  nature  of  the  progeny.  With  regard  to 
this  we  must  content  ourselves  with  saying,  that  we  be- 
lieve, notwithstanding  all  the  investigations  into  this 
subject  and  all  the  books  that  have  been  written  upon 
it,  there  are  as  yet  no  certain  data  whereby  to  decide  the 
question,  even  if,  from  its  nature,  it  admits  of  decision  : 
and  that  all  that  is  known  with  even  tolerable  certainty 
is  contained  above  in  the  observations  with  regard  to 
crossing  and  consanguine  unions. 

Before  dismissing  this  subject,  it  will  be  well  to  guard 
against  one  impression  that  may  arise  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader.  It  may  appear  that,  in  broadly  and  strongly  as- 
serting a  special  moral  heritage,  we  thereby  lessen  man's 
individual  responsibility  ;  for,  it  may  be  argued,  if  man 
be  born  with  passions  and  impulses  so  strong,  and,  in 
many  cases,  with  will  so  weak,  how  can  he  be  blamed 
for  the  results  ?  To  think  thus  would  be  a  serious  error, 
and  one  which  I  cannot  too  strongly  disclaim.  Man,  the 
highest  of  animal  creatures,  is  not  indeed  exempt  from 
the  physiological  laws  which  govern  the  lower  orders. 


NATURAL   HERITAGE.  87 

Differing  as  he  does  from  these  in  the  possession  of  a 
higher  type  of  intelligence,  in  the  capacity  for  forming 
and  comprehending  abstract  ideas,  and  most  of  all  in 
the  presence  of  a  moral  nature  and  sense,  he  is  yet 
amenable  to  the  general  organic  laws  by  which  all  ani- 
mal natures  are  governed.  But  there  is  this  difference 
between  the  man  and  the  brute,  — both  equally  inherit 
the  nature  that  is  transmitted  to  them  for  good  or  for 
evil ;  but  in  the  one  —  the  brute  —  the  act  follows  im- 
mediately on  the  impulse,  there  is  no  reflection,  no 
knowledge  of  good  or  evil ;  therefore  is  the  brute  the 
predestined  slave  to  his  organization.  In  the  other  — 
Man  —  the  impulse  due  to  organization  may  be  equally 
strong ;  but  judgment,  and  the  still  small  voice  of  con- 
science, and  his  innate  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  con- 
stantly and  surely  intervene  to  keep  him  from  evil,  — 
constantly  and  surely,  until  deadened  and  blunted  by 
continual  disregard  and  habitual  indulgence.  And  here- 
in consists  man's  responsibility,  and  the  very  possibility 
of  virtue,  that  whilst  the  brute  acts  strictly  according 
to  his  organization,  man,  equally  urged  by  his,  may  act 
according  to  a  higher,  —  i.  e.  a  moral  law.  Every  sane 
man  is  responsible  for  his  voluntary  acts,  whatever  may 
be  the  moving  impulse.  Sin  and  crime  are  always  sin 
and  crime,  whatever  the  constitutional  tendency.  In 
the  face  of  the  facts  before  us,  I  see  no  room  to  doubt 
or  deny  that  one  person  is  born  with  impulses  and  ten- 
dencies to  particular  forms  of  virtue  or  vice  stronger  than 
those  of  others,  who,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  more 
prone  to  other  forms  of  good  or  evil  than  the  first.  The 
passions  and  appetites  are  doubtless  much  keener  and 
more  difficult  of  control  in  those  who  inherit  them  from 
a  line  of  ancestry  who  have  never  checked  them,  but  in 
whom  vice  has  been  accounted  a  glory  and  a  virtue.  It 
is  much  easier  for  some  wEo  inherit  a  placid,  even  tern- 


88  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

perament,  with  no  strong  emotions,  to  be  outwardly  vir- 
tuous and  orderly,  than  for  those  just  mentioned  ;  but 
all  have  it  in  their  power.  Habitual  selfishness,  disregard 
of  the  rights  or  feelings  of  others,  immorality,  may  re- 
duce man  nearly  to  the  level  of  the  brute ;  the  vicious 
act  may  seem  to  be  due  to  irresistible  impulse,  but  the 
perpetrator  is  not  the  less  culpable  for  that.  He  who  wil- 
fully intoxicates  himself  that  he  may  commit  a  murder 
is  still  a  murderer,  and  one  of  the  deepest  dye  of  crime. 
Life  to  all  is  a  warfare,  to  some  it  is  much  more  severe 
than  to  others ;  but  all  may  fight  the  good  fight,  and  all 
may  attain  the  reward ;  none  are  born  with  a  constitu- 
tion incapable  of  virtue,  though  many  have  such  a  one 
as  may  well  make  life  one  long  struggle  against  the  power 
of  temptations  so  severe  that  it  is  well  for  man  that  he 
is  not  alone  in  the  mortal  conflict. 


II. 

ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN. 

PROBLEM  :  How   are  our  armies  of  Crime  and  Disease 
recruited  ? 

IN  the  preceding  essay  I  have  been  concerned  chiefly 
with  those  accidents  which,  I  may  almost  venture  to  say, 
befall  a  man  before  his  birth,  —  those  influences  which, 
years  before  even  his  embryonic  life  commenced,  were  at 
work  to  determine  his  future  personal  and  moral  endow- 
ments or  aptitudes ;  to  determine  whether  his  life  should 
be  one  of  calm  apathetic  endurance,  or  of  fierce  contest 
with,  or  ignoble  yielding  to,  temptation,  —  perhaps  to  de- 
termine far  more  than  this,  which  broadly  to  state  might 
shock  the  prejudices  or  feelings  of  many.  It  has  been 
indicated  that  each  individual,  as  to  his  nature,  is  but  the 
compendium  and  resume  of  the  nature  and  organization 
of  his  ancestry,  —  an  equation,  however,  which  from  the 
multitude  of  the  unknown  quantities,  and  the  inextricable 
complication  of  their  functions,  admits  of  no  certain  pre- 
dictive solution  in  individual  cases,  though  offering  the 
most  precise  suggestions  as  to  the  total  result. 

But  whilst  the  tendencies  of  man  are  thus  determined, 
his  actuality  is  by  no  means  completed  and  unalterably 
fixed  at  birth.  In  the  development  of  his  organization 
and  the  growth  of  his  character  he  is  subjected  to  an  in- 
finite variety  of  influences,  which  have  a  powerful  effect 
upon  his  ultimate  constitution  for  good  or  evil.  These 
influences  are  exercised  under  the  forms  of  climate,  soil, 


90  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

social  medium,  state  of  civilization,  education,  food,  habits 
of  life,  absorption  of  poisons,  and  a  variety  of  mixed 
causes  not  easy  to  define  in  precise  terms.  Some  of  these 
are  potent  for  good,  others  for  evil.  It  is  my  object  in 
the  present  paper  to  trace  the  effect  of  some  of  those 
agencies  the  result  of  which  is  to  deteriorate  the  indi- 
vidual, and  by  their  collective  influences  to  form  "  De- 
generate Classes "  in  society,  the  natural  tendency  of 
which  is  to  terminate  in  the  hospital,  the  prison,  or  the 
lunatic  asylum. 

Man  came  pure l  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker,  but  he 
has  "  sought  out  many  inventions,"  most  of  them  by  no 
means  particularly  to  his  advantage.  What  was  the 
special  type  of  this  perfect  man  we  are  not  in  a  condition 
to  ascertain.  We,  as  good  Englishmen,  feel  an  instinc- 
tive, irresistible  tendency  to  conceive  of  Adam  as  a  very 
completely  developed  countryman  of  our  own,  as  to 
physique.  In  the  two  celebrated  French  paintings  of  the 
"  Temptation  "  and  the  "  Fall,"  he  is  represented  as  a 
model  Frenchman,  even  to  the  well-waxed  and  curled 
mustache.  And  if  the  African  troubles  himself  about 
his  first  parent,  his  fancy  doubtless  paints  him  as  with  a 
skin  still  blacker  and  more  sebaceous,  lips  still  thicker, 
and  hair  more  woolly,  than  his  own. 

The  earliest  representations  of  our  species  are  far  dif- 
ferent from  all  these,  and  also  from  the  Grecian  type  of 
perfection,  yet  probably  not  more  so  than  they  are  from 
the  real  original  man  ;  so  that,  in  speaking  of  "  degenera- 
tion," we  have  no  absolute  standard  of  comparison.  Yet 
the  most  cursory  glance  over  the  varieties  of  our  race, 
whether  in  their  ethnological  or  their  social  relations, 
shows  that  such  degeneration  has  taken  place,  either  ab- 
solutely or  relatively  :  absolutely,  in  so  far  as  the  subject 
of  it  may  be  supposed  to  have  fallen  from  a  higher  state 
of  civilized  development ;  relatively,  as  they  have  failed 


ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  91 

to  raise  themselves  to  a  certain  standard.  Ethnologi- 
cally,  the  comparison  would  be  between  the  refined  and 
cultivated  European,  and  what  are  called  the  "  wild  peo- 
ple "  of  Ceram,  or  "  original  people  "  of  the  Malay  penin- 
sula, who  seem,  objectively  considered,  to  differ  from  the 
monkeys  in  little  else  than  some  unintelligible  rudiments 
of  articulate  speech,  and  the  casual  accomplishment  of 
kindling  a  fire.  How  have  the  differences  been  brought 
about  1  If  we  resort  to  the  "  diversity  of  race  "  theory, 
we  only  move  the  difficulty  one  short  step  backwards,  for 
we  are  met  by  the  consideration  that,  within  credible  his- 
toric periods,  some  barbarous  nations  have  become  civil- 
ized, whilst  these  have  not ;  and  also  that,  in  some  in- 
stances, people  possessing  a  tolerably  hio;h  grade  of  civil- 
ization have  relapsed  into  almost  complete  barbarism, 
as  we  may  see  in  certain  Portuguese  colonies.  ' 

But,  considering  man  as  one  species,  there  are  still 
two  fundamental  views  of  his  nature  and  progress  which 
it  may  be  well  briefly  to  notice.  We,  as  believers  in  the 
possibility  and  the  actuality  of  a  revelation,  see  in  the 
benighted,  degraded  condition  of  the  heathen  the  result 
of  the  original  curse  operating  through  natural  laws ;  by 
virtue  of  which,  and  in  accordance  with  providential 
arrangements  shrouded  in  the  most  impenetrable  mys- 
tery, they  are  waiting,  long  waiting,  for  the  bringing  in 
of  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles.  But  there  are  those  who 
recognize  no  revelation,  nor  even  the  possibility  of  such  ; 
and  of  these  a  certain  class  of  writers  affect  to  believe 
that  those  so-called  "  original  people  "  are  samples  of  men 
almost  as  originally  created,  in  whom  the  only  believable 
source  of  improvement  —  i.  e.  "  natural  progress  "  —  has 
operated  very  slowly.  We  say  almost  as  originally  cre- 
ated, for  by  the  theory  he  is  supposed  to  have  growji  upon 
the  earth  without  speech  or  knowledge  of  any  kind,  and 
has  had  emphatically  to  "  work  out "  his  own  develop- 


92  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ment.  The  author  of  the  "  Defence  of  the  Eclipse  of 
Faith  "  gives  a  graphic  and  amusing  picture  of  man  as 
thus  circumstanced  :  — 

"  We  must  fancy  man  feeling  his  way  at  once  to  the 
lowest  elements  of  civilization  and  the  most  element  arv 
conceptions  of  religion.  And  as  savages  make  no  rapid 
progress  (some  philosophers  say  they  cannot,  and  all  his- 
tory shows  they  do  not)  without  instruction  from  without, 
and  as  by  the  supposition  primeval  man  could  not  have 
any,  it  is  hard  to  say  how  many  ages  he  crawled  before 
he  walked,  lived  on  berries  and  acorns  before  his  first  in- 
cipient attempts  at  cooking,  yelled  his  uncouth  gibberish 
before  he  made  (if  he  could  ever  make)  the  refined  dis- 
covery of  an  articulate  language,  and  lighted  on  his  first 
deity  in  the  shape  of  a  bright  pebble  or  an  old  fish-bone, 
and  was  in  raptures  at  the  discovery  !  Or,  rather,  it  is 
hard  to  say  how  the  poor  wretch  ever  survived  the  ex- 
periment of  any  such  introduction  to  the  world  at  all. 
Some  philosophers  have  defined  man  as  a  laughing  ani- 
mal. I  am  afraid  that  on  this  theory  it  was  some  years 
before  he  found  anything  to  laugh  at.  It  must  have 
been  very  long  before  his  'differentia'  appeared." 

Even  had  we  no  revelation,  the  hypothesis  of  a  fall 
from  a  previous  higher  state,  through  the  action  of  va- 
rious climatic  and  moi*al  agencies,  would  present  infi- 
nitely fewer  difficulties,  in  accounting  for  the  phenomena, 
than  this  absurd  theory.  But  as  the  whole  subject  of 
the  production  of  varieties  of  mankind  is  much  too  ex- 
tensive for  present  discussion,  we  propose  limiting  our 
attention  to  certain  classes  of  morbid  varieties,  occurring 
in  civilized  societies,  as  true  degenerations  from  the  nor- 
mal type,  developed  under  the  influence  of  climate,  soil, 
habits,  manners,  occupation,  use  and  abuse  of  stimulants, 
narcotic  agents,  <fcc. 

The  degenerations  \yhich  are  the  subject  of  our  obser- 


ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  93 

vations  consist,  somatically,  of  imperfections  in  the  devel- 
opment of  bodily  organs,  deviations  from  the  normal  type 
and  proportions,  and  feebleness  in  the  performance  of  the 
functions  ;  psychically,  they  are  manifested  in  infirmity  of 
will  and  purpose,  weakness  of  the  moral  sense,  general 
tendency  to  impulse,  and  proclivity  to  temptation.  Bod- 
ily and  mentally,  they  are  progressive  in  character, 
transmissible  from  generation  to  generation,  and  tend 
finally  to  the  extinction  of  that  branch  of  the  race.  It 
is  from  this  unfortunate  and  numerous  class  that  disease 
of  all  kinds  selects  its  readiest  and  most  inalienable  vic- 
tims ;  that  our  "  dangerous  classes  "  are  perpetually  re- 
cruited ;  that  our  prisons  are  filled  ;  that  our  lunatic 
asylums  are  peopled  ;  and,  when  all  these  deductions  are 
made,  there  remains  an  almost  countless  multitude  of 
"  detrimentals,"  against  whom  the  efforts  of  religious 
teaching,  philanthropy,  and  legislation  are  directed  well- 
nigh  in  vain ;  —  not,  perhaps,  utterly  without  intelligence, 
—  not  altogether  devoid  of  a  sort  of  moral  sensation,  — 
but  in  whom  the  two  do  not  combine  to  form  a  rule  for 
life  and  conduct. 

In  brief,  the  proposition  is  this :  There  are  certain 
physical  influences  which  (combined  in  many  instances 
with  absence  of  moral  culture)  produce  deteriorating  in- 
fluences upon  both  the  body  and  the  mind  of  individuals, 
the  results  of  which  are  progressive  and  transmissible, 
and  terminate  in  the  production  of  varieties  of  in<nil-ui<l, 
as  distinct  from  the  society  amidst  which  they  live  both 
physically  and  morally,  and,  according,  to  their  specific 
source,  as  distinct  from  each  other  as  are  the  Hottentot, 
the  .Malay,  or  the  Esquimau  from  one  another,  or  from 
the  civilized  European.  The  goitrous  cretin,  the  per- 
petual worker  in  mines  or  even  factories,  the  habitual  and 
hereditary  drunkard,  the  imbecile,  the  race  of  the  opium- 
eater,  —  these  and  many  others  present  types  of  degen- 


94  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

eration  from  the  mem  sana  in  corpore  sano  almost  as 
well  marked  and  recognizable  to  the  practised  eye  as  is 
that  of  the  poor  half-starved  Australian  from  his  white 
brother.  The  process  by  which  these  variations  are 
effected  it  is  now  purposed  to  trace. 

Man  alone  is  a  cosmopolite  ;  he  alone  inhabits  the  en- 
tire earth.  Where  the  bear  and  the  reindeer  can  scarce 
exist ;  where  the  lizard  perishes,  parched  with  thirst ; 
where  the  condor  soars  thousands  of  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea  ;  and,  hundreds  of  feet  below  the  surface,  where 
the  rat  hardly  ekes  out  a  precarious  subsistence,  there 
man  finds  a  home  and  flourishes.  But  whilst  he  thus 
asserts  his  authority  over  Nature,  she  in  turn  sets  her 
seal  upon  him  ;  and,  according  to  the  climate,  the  geo- 
logical structure  of  the  soil,  and  the  ever-varying  phys- 
ical conditions  with  which  he  is  surrounded,  the  primitive 
type  becomes  modified  to  produce  the  striking  varieties 
in  color,  form,  and  general  physical,  psychical,  and  moral 
development,  which  have  been  so  often  mistaken  for  irre- 
fragable evidence  of  distinct  origin.  These  are  what  are 
termed  the  natural  modifications  of  the  human  race. 

But  under  exceptional  conditions  the  contest  of  man 
with  the  various  elemental  influences  is  partially  unsuc- 
cessful, and  he  becomes  unnaturally  or  morbidly  removed 
from  the  primitive  type.  The  same  result  is  brought 
o,bout  by  various  circumstances  attendant  upon  his  nutri- 
tion, his  social  condition,  his  habits  of  life,  hereditary 
influence,  and  many  other  causes.  This  constitutes  a 
"  degeneration "  which  may  be  defined  as  a  "  morbid 
deviation  from  a  primitive  type,"  and  characterized  by  a 
tendency  to  further  deterioration,  to  hereditary  transmis- 
sion, arid  to  the  more  or  less  speedy  extinction  of  that 
section  of  the  race  or  community.  And  as  in  the  natural 
modifications  of  type  there  are  certain  forms  occurring 
with  constant  relation  to  the  causes  in  operation  in  their 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN  MAN.  95 

production,  so  in  the  morbid  deviations  there  are  also 
certain  forms,  not  occurring  casually,  irregularly,  or  in- 
terchangeably, but  marked  by  definite  characters,  and 
bearing  constant  and  definite  relations  to  their  causes. 

It  is  not  alone  the  fact  that  the  nervous  system,  in  its 
double  connection  with  mind  and  body,  is  most  frequently 
the  victim  of  these  degenerations,  that  lends  a  deep 
interest  to  this  inquiry  in  reference  to  psychology  ;  but 
also  that,  according  to  M.  Morel,2  mental  alienation  in  its 
various  forms,  but  especially  the  chronic,  is  but  the  con- 
centrated and  final  expression  of  degeneracy  of  race, 
wheresoever  the  chain  of  morbid  phenomena  commenced. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  understand  by  a  "  degeneration  " 
of  the  human  race  ? 

Man  is  not  the  product  of  accident,  nor  yet  the  last 
manifestation  of  imaginary  transformations.  Created  to 
attain  the  end  appointed  by  Infinite  Wisdom,  he  cannot 
do  so  unless  the  conditions  which  insure  the  permanency 
and  progress  of  the  race  be  more  powerful  than  those 
which  tend  to  destroy  and  deteriorate  it.  That  there 
are  elements  of  deterioration  and  disintegration  at  work 
upon  humanity  and  life  in  general  is  a  very  widely  spread 
belief.  Bichat  says  that  such  is  the  mode  of  existence 
of  living  creatures,  that  everything  around  them  tends 
to  destroy  them.  This  is  the  expression  of  an  antagonism 
between  living  and  inert  matter,  which  has  formed  the 
foundation  for  so  many  philosophical  systems,  some  at- 
tributing all  evils  to  unnatural  social  systems,  others  to 
the  depravation  of  the  moral  sense,  and  others  again  to 
the  original  corruption  of  human  nature.  M.  Morel 
(op.  cit.)  takes  no  exclusive  view  in  favor  of  any  opinion,  but 
considers  the  truth  to  be  found  in  a  combination  of  all :  — 

"  Placed  in  new  conditions,  the  primitive  man  has  ex- 
perienced the  consequences,  and  his  descendants  have 
been  able  to  escape  neither  from  the  principle  of  heredi- 


96  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

fury  transmission,  nor  from  the  influence  of  those  causes 
which,  by  affecting  the  health,  tended  to  remove  thorn 
still  further  from  the  primitive  type.  These  deviations 
have  produced  varieties,  of  which  the  one  part  has  con- 
stituted races  capable  of  propagating  themselves  with  a 
persistent  special  typical  character  ;  whilst  the  other  has 
introduced  amongst  the  races  themselves  those  abnormal 
conditions  which  are  to  form  the  subject  of  our  investi- 
gations, and  which  I  designate  under  the  name  of  '  De- 
generations.' These  also  have  their  distinctive  characters 
and  types,  referable  to  the  various  causes  producing  them. 
One  of  the  most  essential  characters  of  these  degenera- 
tions is  that  of  hereditary  transmission,  but  under  con- 
ditions much  more  grave  than  those  attending  ordinary 
heirdom.  Observation  shows  that,  failing  certain  excep- 
tional elements  of  regeneration,  the  offspring  of  degener- 
ate beings  present  types  of  progressive  degradation.  This 
progression  may  attain  such  limits  that  humanity  is  only 
preserved  by  the  very  excess  of  the  evil,  and  the  reason  is 
plain  :  the  existence  of  degenerate  beings  is  necessarily 
bounded,  and  it  is  not  even  necessary  that  they  should 
reach  the  last  degree  of  degeneracy  in  order  to  be  smitten 
by  sterility,  and  become  incapable  of  transmitting  the 
type  of  their  degradation." 

Buffon  says  that  three  causes  tend  to  produce  changes 
in  animal  constitution,  —  climate,  nourishment,  and  do- 
mesticity. Allied  as  man  is  physically  to  other  organized 
beings,  he  must  necessarily  be  submitted  to  the  same 
influences  under  certain  limitations  ;  but  to  attain  just 
ideas,  we  must  in  his  case  substitute  for  domesticity  the 
aggregate  of  manners,  customs,  education,  civilization, 
and  the  like. 

When  animals  are  transported  into  a  new  climate,  not 
only  the  individuals  but  the  race  require  acclimatization. 
Nothing  is  more  curious  than  the  successive  changes 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  97 

produced  in  animals  by  domesticity  and  their  return  to 
savage  life.  Reduced  to  captivity,  they  not  only  lose 
many  of  their  natural  instincts  and  acquire  new  ones, 
but  remarkable  physiological  transformations  occur.  M. 
Roulin  relates  in  connection  with  the  introduction  of 
pigs  into  St.  Domingo,  that  many  of  them  escaped  and 
became  wild  ;  and  it  is  remarked  that  their  ears  have 
become  straight  again,  their  heads  have  become  widened 
and  elevated  behind,  and  the  color,  instead  of  those  va- 
rieties met  with  in  the  domesticated  state,  is  almost  uni- 
formly black.  The  same  has  been  observed  in  other 
countries,  where  the  pig,  returning  to  the  wild  state,  has 
become  in  form,  color,  and  texture  of  hair,  like  the  wild 
boar.  A  very  important  fact,  in  its  physiological  and 
hereditary  bearing,  is  noticed  with  regard  to  the  lacta- 
tion of  cows.  The  constant  practice  of  milking  these  crea- 
tures during  many  generations  has  caused  the  secretion 
of  milk  to  become  a  constant  function  in  the  economy. 
In  Colombia  the  abundance  of  cattle  and  sundry  other 
circumstances  have  interrupted  this  habit  of  secretion ; 
and  in  a  very  few  generations  the  mammae  have  returned 
to  the  normal  small  size.  Certain  habits  of  progression 
are  also  hereditary,  as  the  mode  of  walking  of  the  Narra- 
ganset  horse.  In  other  cases,  instincts  are  developed 
and  become  hereditary  through  habit,  as  in  the  dogs  that 
are  brought  up  to  hunt  the  peccari.  Their  young  ones 
know  instinctively  how  to  attack  this  ferocious  brute, 
whilst  the  offspring  of  untrained  dogs  are  devoured  in 
an  instant.  Barking  appears  also  to  be  an  acquired  but 
hereditary  habit.  Wild  dogs  do  not  bark,  but  howl. 
The  young  of  domesticated  dogs  bark  even  when  re- 
moved from  their  parents  early ;  but  dogs  which  become 
wild  after  being  domesticated  lose  the  habit  of  barking, 
and  howl  again.  The  same  is  observed  in  cats'.8 

Many  other  instances  might  be  given,  but  these  are 
5  o 


98  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

sufficient  to  illustrate  the  point  in  question,  and  to  justify 
the  deduction  that  man  himself  is  not  unamenable  to  the 
powerful  influence  of  physical  agencies,  seeing  that  he  is 
a  being  composed  of  the  same  materials,  and  constructed 
on  the  same  principles,  as  those  over  which  he  has  do- 
minion. Doubtless  in  the  constant  strife  with  the  ele- 
ments to  adapt  them  to  his  constitution,  the  latter  is 
modified  in  some  degree,  and  thereby  adapted  to  the 
particular  circumstances  under  which  he  is  placed. 
This,  within  certain  limits,  cannot  be  considered  morbid, 
nor  a  degeneration.  In  this  strife  the  constitution  may 
be  modified  just  sufficiently  to  adapt  it  to  surrounding 
nature,  but  an  exaggeration  of  these  causes  may  pass  on 
to  what  becomes  degeneration.  It  is  not  always  easy  to 
trace  the  line  of  demarcation,  but  certain  instances  are 
here  given  in  illustration.  There  are  amazing  differ- 
ences between  the  Esquimau  who  gorges  himself  with 
whale's  blubber,  and  that  "  African  starveling "  who 
pursues  the  lion  under  a  tropical  sun  ;  between  the 
fisherman  of  the  North,  covered  with  seal-skin,  and  the 
hunter  of  the  Sahara;  between  the  luxurious  Eastern  and 
the  energetic  European.  But  these  are  all  natural  modi- 
fications to  suit  climate. 

Passing  on  to  another  instance,  we  shall  find  an  actual 
organic  change  occurring,  obviously  in  accordance  with 
the  requirements  of  man  in  relation  to  the  physical  con- 
ditions in  which  he  lives.  Amongst  the  ancient  Peru- 
vians, the  dominant  race  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  con- 
quest was  that  of  the  Incas,  or  Quichuas,  who  spoke 
a  distinct  language,  and  amongst  whom  appeared,  almost 
exclusively,  the  civilization  of  South  Africa.  They  had 
many  noteworthy  peculiarities  of  formation,  but  we  are 
only  concerned  with  one,  viz.  the  great  development  of 
the  chest  and  shoulders.  The  plateaux  inhabited  by 
this  race  are  included  between  the  limits  of  about  3,000 


ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  99 

to  6,000  yards  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  At  this  alti- 
tude the  air  is  so  much  rarefied,  that  it  is  necessary  to 
take  a  much  greater  volume  of  it  into  the  chest  in  order 
to  provide  the  system  with  a  due  amount  of  oxygen. 
In  accordance  with  this  necessity,  the  Quichuas  had  very 
large  square  shoulders,  and  an  excessively  voluminous 
chest,  which  is  arched  and  very  long,  and  so  increases 
the  size  of  the  trunk  greatly.  In  infancy,  and  during  the 
whole  period  of  growth,  the  chest  is  developed,  compara- 
tively irrespective  of  the  growth  of  other  parts.  The 
lungs  themselves  are  altered  in  texture,  the  air-cells  are 
enlarged,  and  by  various  means  the  entire  aerating  sur- 
face increased.  These  statements  are  given  on  the  au- 
thority of  M.  D'Orbigny.  They  afford  an  excellent  ex- 
ample of  the  modifications  which  the  human  races  may 
undergo  under  the  influence  of  external  circumstances, — 
changes  which  have  for  their  result  the  effect  of  harmon- 
izing the  constitution  of  the  inhabitants  with  the  nature 
of  the  climate. 

In  some  instances  it  would  appear  to  be  impossible  to 
effect  this  harmony.  Some  climates  are  almost  con- 
stantly fatal  to  Europeans,  as  that  of  Sierra  Leone. 
Difference  of  original  constitution  can  scarcely  be  alleged 
as  the  cause  why  these  should  perish  where  the  natives 
exist  naturally,  for  it  is  stated  authoritatively  that  some 
descendants  of  the  aborigines  of  this  district,  being  taken 
back  to  the  country  which  their  ancestors  had  left  long 
before,  experienced  the  same  inconveniences  and  diseases 
as  the  Europeans. 

Intermediate  between  the  two  last-mentioned  instan- 
ces are  those  cases,  so  familiar  to  all  of  the  present 
century,  of  the  changes  in  constitution  induced  by  emi- 
gration of  Europeans  to  tropical  climates  generally,  as  to 
the  East  and  West  Indies.  These  changes  are  thus 
described  by  Dr.  Buchez  :  "  The  general  circulation  is 


100  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

excited  to  over-activity,  the  blood  is  diminished  in  quaiv 
tity,  and  the  .arteries  are  less  full.  The  circulation  of 
the  vena  porta  (supplying  the  liver)  is  augmented,  and 
there  is  a  very  large  secretion  of  bile.  The  liver  be- 
comes enormous,  and  appears  to  supplement  the  imper- 
fect and  insufficient  action  of  the  lungs.  The  muscular 
force  is  greatly  diminished  in  energy."  "  Now,"  asks  the 
writer,  "  is  this  climatic  effect  to  be  called  a  degenera- 
tion ] "  To  which  the  answer  of  M.  Morel  is  :  "  Certainly 
not ;  but  only  a  profound  modification,  transmissible  by 
generation,  which  will  terminate  by  being  bounded  by 
definite  limits,  and  will  have  the  result  of  adapting  the 
constitution  of  the  individuals  to  the  climate  in  which 
they  are  called  upon  to  live."  In  enunciating  this  opin- 
ion, M.  Morel  evinces  certainly  a  very  elastic  faith  in  ac- 
climatization. If  his  prophecy  prove  true,  it  must  be  un- 
der conditions  with  which  we  are  not  as  yet  familiar ;  for 
the  secret  of  colonization  of  a  strictly  tropical  climate  by 
Europeans  has  certainly  not  yet  been  discovered,  in  any 
full  and  perfect  sense  of  the  term.  Above  all  things, 
Europeans  can  never  personally  cultivate  the  soil  in 
such  climates. 

But  the  climatic  influences  which  so  modify  the  con- 
stitution may  act  to  such  an  extent  as  to  produce  true 
morbid  deviations  from  the  normal  type  of  humanity,  — 
true  degenerations,  of  which  result  we  will  now  give  an 
instance,  though  somewhat  premature  and  out  of  place. 
It  is  taken  from  an  account  of  the  salt  marshes  of  the 
Dombes,  officially  given  by  M.  Melier.  He  says  :  — 

"  Visiting  the  village  of  Hiers,  we  saw  children  of 
twelve  years  of  age  who  appeared  but  six  or  eight,  so 
puny  and  undeveloped  were  they.  Their  dirty  gray 
color  is  not  only  pale,  but,  as  it  were,  tarnished.  Meairre 
in  limb  and  swelled  in  feature,  they  have  only  the  abdo- 
men developed,  and  almost  all  have  incurable  conges- 


ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  101 

tions.  For  a  long  time  the  canton  was  unable  to  fur- 
nish the  military  contingent.  The  greater  part  of  the 
young  men  were  rejected,  either  for  defect  of  stature  or 
on  account  of  general  feebleness.  It  often  happened 
that  amongst  those  drawn  not  one  was  found  fit  for 
service.  It  has  occurred  also  that  in  certain  years  not 
one  remained  of  the  prescribed  class  ;  none  had  arrived 
at  the  age  required ;  all  were  dead,  for  the  most  part  in 

their  infancy The  aspect  of  this  country,  and  of 

the  race  that  inhabits  it,  carries  deep  sadness  to  the 
mind  of  the  observer.  It  is  a  tomb,  on  the  borders  of 
which  the  inhabitants  spend  a  weary  existence,  and  seem 
daily  to  measure  its  depths.  They  are  aged  at  thirty  \ 
broken  and  decrepit  at  fifty." 

It  will  not  be  inexpedient  to  compare  and  contrast 
with  this  true  specimen  of  degeneration  one  of  those 
other  instances  which  have  so  frequently  been  cited  by 
authors  under  the  same  category.  We  shall  select  but 
one,  and  that  derived  from  those  who  have  generally 
been  considered  as  the  lowest  and  most  degraded  speci- 
mens of  our  species.  The  Bosjesmans,  a  branch  of  the 
Hottentots,  as  reported  by  Professor  Vater,  live  in  a 
condition  of  profound  misery,  and  the  greater  part  of 
their  tribes  are  as  destitute  of  furniture  as  the  cattle. 
Their  subsistence  depends  partly  upon  the  chase  and 
partly  upon  the  roots  furnished  by  the  desert ;  upon  the 
eggs  of  ants,  the  insects  brought  by  the  wind,  and  the 
reptiles  that  chance  presents ;  partly  also  upon  the 
booty  stolen  from  the  oppressors  of  their  race,  their 
hereditary  enemies,  the  colonists  of  the  frontier.  Fallen 
from  the  condition  of  shepherds  to  that  of  hunters  and 
robbers,  the  Bosjesmans,  as  might  be  expected,  and  as 
is  confirmed  by  those  who  have  known  them,  Jbave  ac- 
quired more  resolution  of  character  in  proportion  as 
they  have  been  exposed  to  more  dangers,  more  ferocity 


102  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

as  they  have  suffered  more  injustice,  and  more  activity  as 
they  have  had  to  endure  more  privations.  From  being 
a  shepherd  people,  of  a  mild,  trusting,  and  inoffensive 
disposition,  they  have  become  gradually  transformed  into 
wandering  hordes  of  fierce,  restless,  and  vindictive  sav- 
ages. Treated  by  their  fellowmen  as  brute  beasts,  they 
have  ended  by  assuming  their  habits  and  customs. 

But  the  intellectual  inferiority  due  to  a  morbid  devia- 
tion from  the  normal  type  of  humanity  is  so  distinct 
from  that  due  to  the  causes  just  enumerated,  that  we 
are  justified  in  adopting  this  conclusion,  that  be- 
tween the  intellectual  state  of  the  most  savage  Bosjes- 
rnan  and  that  of  the  most  refined  European  there  is 
much  less  difference  than  between  the  state  of  the  said 
European  and  that  of  the  degenerate  being  whose  intel- 
lectual arrest  is  due  to  cerebral  atrophy,  congenital  or 
acquired,  or  to  any  morbid  influence  leading  to  imbecil- 
ity, idiocy,  or  dementia.  The  first,  in  effect,  is  suscep- 
tible of  some  radical  improvement,  and  his  descendants 
may  ascend  to  a  higher,  or  even  })erhaps  the  highest 
type.  The  second  is  only  susceptible  of  relative  ame- 
lioration ;  and  a  fatal  heritage  will  descend  to  his  pro- 
geny. He  must  ever  remain  what  he  really  is,  —  a  speci- 
men of  degeneration  in  the  race,  —  an  example  of  mwbid 
deviation  from  the  normal  type  of  humanity.  (Morel.) 

Passing  from  these  general  considerations,  by  which  it 
will  be  manifest  what  is  the  technical  and  specific  mean- 
ing of  the  term  "  degeneration,"  we  find  that  there  are 
numerous  methods  whereby  analogous  results  are  brought 
about ;  these  we  shall  notice  in  some  detail. 

1.  We  have  seen  that  the  man  who  lives  in  a  marshy 
district  undergoes  a  chronic  poisonous  influence,  which 
destroys  his  health,  and  produces  hereditary  deteriora- 
tion. But  there  are  other  circumstances  where  degenera- 
tion is  in  more  direct  relation  with  a  lower  tone  of  the 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN  MAN.  103 

moral  sense,  violation  of  the  laws  of  hygiene,  and  tho 
results  of  habit  and  education.  Such  receive  their  illus- 
tration from  the  effects  of  the  abuse  of  alcohol,  opium, 
tobacco,  and  other  narcotics. 

2.  Humanity  seems  periodically  condemned  to  certain 
scourges,  which  entail  fatal  modifications  in  the  laws  of 
organisms.      Such  are   famines   and   epidemics,    which 
change  so  completely  the  general  constitution,  and  en- 
gender  so  often  those  morbid   temperaments  of  which 
we  find  the  types  in  the  generations  which  succeed  to 
the  actual  sufferers  by  such  events.     Famines  and  epi- 
demics do  not  appear  to  be  isolated  facts.      They  are 
generally  preceded  or  accompanied  by  extraordinary  per- 
turbations in  the  regular  progress  of  the  seasons,  and 
of  natural  phenomena  in  general.     The  idea  of  a  special 
poisonous  agency  appears  admissible  in  these  cases,  and 
that   a   something   allied   to   marsh-poisoning   may  be 
closely  connected  with  these  strange  occurrences. 

3.  Another  most  fruitful  source  of  degeneration  is  to 
be  found  in  the  nature  of  the  food  consumed.     Insuffi- 
cient nourishment  and  the  exclusive  use  of  certain  arti- 
cles of  diet,  as  maize  or  potatoes,  produce  morbid  re- 
sults of  an  endemic  character,  to  be  particularly  referred 
to  hereafter. 

4.  The  effect  of  the  social  medium  in  which  man  is 
placed  will  furnish  numerous  and  varied  illustrations  of 
our  subject.     This  social  condition  imposes  upon  him  a 
factitious  mode  of  existence.     The  practice  of  dangerous 
or  unhealthy  occupations,  and  the  habitation  of  crowded 
and  unhealthy  situations,  subject  the  organism  to  new 
sources  of  decay,  and   consequent   degeneration.     The 
genius  of  man  can  do  much  in  his  contest  with  mor- 
bific influences,  but  his  power  is  limited  ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  progress  of  science,  it  is  impossible  that 
he  should  entirely  escape  injury  from  certain  manufac- 


104  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

tures,  from  constant  contact  with  deleterious  gases,  and 
from  passing  the  greater  part  of  his  time  in  heated 
atmospheres,  or  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Add  to 
these  general  conditions  the  profoundly  demoralizing 
tendency  of  poverty,  lack  of  instruction,  failure  of  pre- 
vision, abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors,  and  other  forms  of 
sensual  indulgence  and  insufficiency  of  nutriment,  and 
we  may  then  form  some  idea  of  the  complex  influences 
which  tend  to  modify  the  temperaments  of  the  working 
classes. 

5.  There  are  degenerations  which  result  from  pre- 
vious actual  disease;  others  which  are  congenital,  or 
acquired  during  infancy ;  others,  again,  which  are  in  re- 
lation to  deviations  from  the  general  moral  law ;  others 
received  from  the  ancestry  by  heritage  ;  and,  finally, 
others  which  are  the  result  of  a  combination  of  many  of 
these  causes,  where,  to  use  M.  Morel's  expression,  the 
degeneration  is  the  result  of  a  "  double  fecundation  in 
a  physical  and  moral  sense."  That  part  of  our  subject 
which  related  to  inherited  degeneration  has  in  the  pre- 
vious essay  been  fully  investigated.  I  would  here  repeat 
some  conclusions  there  illustrated,  which  will  aptly  ap- 
ply to  all  the  forms  just  mentioned. 

There  exist  certain  individuals  who  resume  in  their 
own  persons  the  morbid  organic  tendencies  of  many 
previous  generations. 

A  development  of  certain  faculties,  sufficiently  re- 
markable, may  occasionally  throw  a  more  hopeful  light 
upon  the  future  of  these  individuals ;  but  their  intellect- 
ual existence  is  circumscribed  within  certain  limits  which 
they  cannot  pass. 

The  conditions  of  degeneration  in  which  the  inheri- 
tors of  certain  vicious  organic  tendencies  are  found,  dis- 
play themselves  not  only  by  exterior  typical  character- 
istics more  or  less  easy  to  recognize,  such  as  smallness 


ON   DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  105 

or  unnatural  formation  of  the  head,  predominance  of  a 
morbid  temperament,  special  deformities,  sterility,  and 
anomalies  in  the  structure  of  organs,  but  also  by  the 
most  remarkable  aberrations  in  the  exercise  of  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  faculties  and  sentiments. 

Asylums  for  the  insane  are,  in  this  view,  but  a  con- 
centration of  the  principal  forms  of  degeneration  in  the 
race.  Because  one  is  placed  there  as  a  maniac,  an  epi- 
leptic, an  imbecile,  or  an  idiot,  he  is  not  the  less  for 
that  —  in  the  majority  of  cases,  if  not  all  —  the  prod- 
uct of  one  or  more  of  the  causes  here  enumerated. 
We,  as  physicians,  are  better  able  than  others  to  appre- 
ciate the  influence  of  alcoholic  excesses,  of  hereditary 
affections,  of  misery  and  privation,  of  insalubrious  pro- 
fessions, of  unhealthy  localities.  If,  then,  the  causes  of 
so  much  evil  may  yield  before  the  efforts  of  the  admin- 
istrative authority,  surely  we  are  right  to  appeal  to  it. 
We  must  not  remain  inactive  contemplators  of  so  many 
destructive  agencies.  Medicine  alone  can  sufficiently 
appreciate  the  causes  producing  degeneracy  of  race ;  to 
it  alone,  therefore,  it  belongs  to  point  out  the  positive 
indication  of  the  remedies  to  be  employed. 

Mental  aberration,  serious  as  it  is  in  my  point  of  view, 
in  this  light  becomes  doubly  so  when  it  is  not  merely 
an  individual  lesion,  but  the  fatal  climax,  and,  as  it 
were,  the  resume  of  a  long  line  of  individual  and  heredi- 
tary affections.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how,  from  one 
generation  to  another,  the  moral  and  physical  condition 
is  gradually  deteriorated,  when  what  was  the  habit  mere- 
ly of  one  generation  became  an  instinct  and  impulse  in 
the  next ;  when  added  to  the  hereditary  taint  was  the 
force  of  example  positively,  and  negatively  the  absence 
of  all  instruction  and  useful  education ;  when  to  the  dis- 
ease of  mind  already  existing,  either  actually  or  poten- 
tially, was  systematically  denied  the  exercise  of  the 
5* 


106  A    PHYSICIAN'S    PROBLEMS. 

commonest  rules  of  hygiene  or  therapeutics,  and  the  or- 
dinary restraints  of  morals  and  religion.  In  cases  repre- 
senting so  deplorable  an  ancestry  as  this,  medicine  will 
do  little  in  altering  the  condition  of  the  individual,  which 
may  be  considered  virtually  unrnodifiable  ;  but  there  re- 
mains an  important  part  to  play  in  the  enunciation  of 
principles  which,  when  carried  out,  will  tend  to  the  re- 
moval of  those  causes  to  which  so  many  of  these  evils  are 
attributable.  Tt  is  true,  as  already  seen,  that  degenera- 
tion tends  ultimately  to  the  extinction  of  the  degenerate 
race  ;  but  this  is  not  enough.  The  death  of  the  branch- 
es of  a  tree  is  not  sufficient  to  regenerate  it  when 
its  roots  are  fixed  in  a  permanently  unhealthy  soil. 
Whether  the  human  race  as  a  whole  is  in  a  state  of  de- 
generation or  not,  is  not  the  question ;  perhaps,  were  it 
so,  it  might  be  an  insoluble  one.  But  it  is  clearly 
proved,  or  provable,  that  a  great  number  of  special  de- 
generations are  in  progress  in  the  species,  and  that  these 
are  in  certain  proportion  to  well-defined  causes.  These 
causes  are  in  some  degree  removable  :  in  other  respects, 
owing  to  the  constitution  of  society,  they  admit  only  of 
more  or  less  modification.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  first 
step  in  the  process  is  to  point  out  the  source  of  these 
evils,  and  the  mode  in  which  they  first  act  upon  individ- 
uals, and,  through  them,  upon  society  at  large. 

After  these  general  considerations,  I  propose  now  to 
investigate  in  detail  some  of  these  causes  of  degenera- 
tion, with  their  modus  operandi  ;  and  select,  as  the  first 
illustration,  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors,  as  being  not 
only  most  important  in  its  bearing  upon  our  own  nation, 
but  as  offering  a  resume  of  almost  all  other  forms  of  de- 
generation, at  one  or  another  period  of  its  history.  The 
disastrous  train  of  results  from  the  inordinate  use  of 
alcohol  in  its  various  forms  has  been  of  late  years  known 
by  the  name  "  chronic  alcoholism."  Entering  the  system 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  107 

in  large  quantities,  it  modifies  fatally  the  constituent  ele- 
ments of  the  blood,  and  acts  as  a  poison.  The  first  ef- 
fect of  large  doses  of  alcohol,  taken  as  a  beverage,  is 
found  in  the  train  of  symptoms  known  as  drunkenness. 
Its  phenomena  are,  unfortunately,  too  familiar  to  need 
description,  but  the  order  of  their  succession  is  worthy 
of  brief  notice.  There  is  first  a  period  of  increased  ac- 
tivity of  the  muscular  powers,  with  a  more  than  usually 
rapid  flow  of  ideas ;  then  succeeds,  invariably,  a  condi- 
tion characterized  by  alternate  excitement  and  depres- 
sion, both  of  the  mental  and  physical  order  ;  finally 
occurs  the  third  phase,  stupor,  relaxation  of  the  muscu- 
lar system,  and  deep,  comatose  sleep.  These  symptoms 
are  transitory;  but  by  and  by,  continuing  the  history 
of  a  person  addicted  to  this  vice,  true  delirium  occurs, 
of  a  more  formed  and  persistent  character,  still  of  an 
acute  and  active  nature.  This,  which  is  known  popu- 
larly, as  well  as  professionally,  by  the  name  of  delirium 
tremens,  is  characterized  by  a  train  of  phenomena  upon 
which  we  will  not  dwell,  with  one  exception.  It  is  wor- 
thy of  notice  that  the  hallucinations  so  constantly  at- 
tendant upon  this  disease  have  all  a  fixed  and  deter- 
minate character.  It  seems  to  the  patient  that  he  is 
surrounded  by  animals,  frequently  creeping  creatures, 
of  all  sizes,  and  he  stretches  out  his  hand  to  grasp  them. 
A  constant  psychological  or  sensory  effect,  following  a 
given  physical  cause,  is  always  of  great  interest.  This 
is  the  more  so,  because  the  idea  of  "  creeping"  or  undu- 
lation of  forms  of  light,  more  or  less  embodied,  occurs  al- 
most constantly  under  the  influence  of  some  other  nar- 
cotic or  intoxicant  agents,  more  particularly  chloroform, 
Indian  hemp,  and  belladonna.  It  may  be,  that  by  a 
happy  induction  from  a  large  collection  of  well-observed 
facts  of  this  order,  some  light  may  ultimately  be  thrown 
upon  that  most  mysterious  subject,  the  mechanism  of 
cerebration. 


108  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

But  neither  intoxication  nor  delirium  tremens  consti- 
tutes what  we  imply  when  we  speak  of  alcoholic  poi- 
eouing.  There  is  a  singular  correspondence  in  the  order 
of  the  symptoms  ;  but  whilst  intoxication  lasts  a  few 
hours,  and  delirium  tremens  a  few  days,  or  perhaps 
weeks,  the  true  chronic  alcoholism  spreads  its  baneful 
influence  over  years,  if  the  constitution  be  originally 
strong  enough  to  last  out  its  effects  so  long.  The  conse- 
quences, also,  are  proportionately  more  serious  ;  it  may, 
indeed,  admit  of  some  doubt,  whether  a  person  once  under 
the  influence  of  alcoholic  poisoning,  as  we  are  now  using 
the  term,  is  ever  able  to  rise  entirely  superior  to  its  ef- 
fects. Not  only  is  the  physical  strength  undermined  to 
a  terrible  extent,  but,  through  the  exhausted  nervous 
system,  the  will  is  broken,  and  powerless  to  cease  from 
the  fatal  habit  which  has  determined  the  change.  The 
special  signs  of  this  affection  are  trembling  of  the  hands 
and  feet,  diminution  of  strength,  paralysis,  partial  or 
general,  starting  of  the  tendons,  cramps,  and  painful 
spasms.  At  a  more  advanced  period,  convulsions  and 
epileptic  attacks  occur.  In  the  sensitive  sphere  of  the 
nervous  system,  we  notice  at  the  outset  itchings  and 
prickings,  being  exaggerations  of  the  general  sensibility, 
and  neuralgic  pains.  Later  still  appears  a  diminution  of 
the  sensibility,  difficulty  of  speech,  and  general  disorder 
of  the  special  senses.  Not  to  dwell  upon  details,  which 
would  only  be  appropriate  in  a  strictly  medical  essay,  I 
may  say  that  the  victims  of  alcoholic  poisoning  are  en- 
feebled, both  as  to  body  and  mind,  to  the  very  extreme, 
and  that  the  moral  sentiments  are  perverted  in  equal 
proportion.  Death  ensues  in  a  few  months  or  years,  in 
;i  state  of  indescribable  misery  and  suffering. 

All  this,  fearful  as  it  is,  would  be  comparatively  of 
trifling  importance,  did  the  punishment  descend  only  on 
the  individual  concerned,  and  terminate  there.  Unfortu- 


ON   DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  109 

natoly  this  is  not  so,  for  there  is  no  phase  of  humanity 
in  which  hereditary  influence  is  so  marked  and  charac- 
teristic as  in  this.  The  children  unquestionably  do  suffer 
for  or  from  the  sins  of  the  parent,  even  unto  untold  gen- 
erations. And  thus  the  evil  spreads  from  the  individual 
to  the  family,  from  family  to  community  and  to  the  popu- 
lation at  large,  which  is  endangered  in  its  highest  inter- 
ests by  the  presence  and  contact  of  a  "  morbid  variety  " 
in  its  midst. 

The  history  of  four  generations  of  a  family  sketched 
by  M.  Morel  is  full  of  instruction  :  it  includes  father,  son, 
grandson,  and  great-grandson. 

1st  Generation.  —  The  father  was  an  habitual  drunk- 
ard, and  was  killed  in  a  public-house  brawl. 

2d  Generation.  —  The  son  inherited  his  father's  hab- 
its, which  gave  rise  to  attacks  of  mania,  terminating  in 
paralysis  and  death. 

3d  Generation.  —  The  grandson  was  strictly  sober,  but 
was  full  of  hypochondriacal  and  imaginary  fears  of  perse- 
cutions, <fec.,  and  had  homicidal  tendencies. 

4:th  Generation.  —  The  fourth  in  descent  had  very 
limited  intelligence,  and  had  an  attack  of  madness  when 
sixteen  years  old,  terminating  in  stupidity  nearly  amount- 
ing to  idiocy.  With  him  probably  the  race  becomes  ex- 
tinct. And  thus  we  perceive  the  persistence  of  the  taint, 
in  the  fact  that  a  generation  of  absolute  temperance  will 
not  avert  the  fatal  issue. 

But  the  effect  of  alcoholic  intoxication  on  the  imme- 
diate offspring  as  individuals  has  been  so  fully  discussed 
in  the  previous  essay,  that  I  have  only  here  to  trace  its 
results  upon  communities  and  nations. 

When  in  a  society,  a  people,  or  a  race,  we  find  that  the 
moral  and  intellectual  powers  have  undergone  consider- 
able degradation,  —  that  maladies,  up  to  a  certain  time 
unknown,  now  have  a  serious  influence  on  the  public 


110  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

health  ;  that  the  number  of  insane  persons  and  criminals 
increases  in  great  proportion,  —  we  have  a  right  to  con- 
clude that  a  cause  which,  in  individuals  and  families, 
produces  certain  results,  is  likely,  if  in  operation,  to  have 
done  the  same  in  larger  communities. 

The  illustrations  of  this  principle  are  chiefly  taken  from 
Sweden,  concerning  which  country  in  this  relation,  thanks 
to  Dr.  Magnus  Huss,  we  know  more  than  any  other 
nation.  The  abuse  of  alcohol  seems  to  have  begun  here 
during  the  last  century.  Of  this  we  have  the  proofs  in 
the  efforts  made  both  by  physicians  and  legislators  to 
enlighten  the  people,  and  to  induce  them  to  pause  in 
their  ruinous  career.  So  early  as  1 785,  Dr.  Hagstrb'ru, 
struck  with  the  growing  evil,  made  an  energetic  appeal 
to  his  fellow-citizens  to  check  a  vice  which  was  not  only 
an  outrage  to  religion  and  morals,  but  which  seriously 
threatened  future  generations.  Since  this  time  innumer- 
able voices  have  been  raised  to  the  same  end,  but,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  the  evil  has  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  Dr.  Magnus  Huss  does  not  hesitate  to  say  :  — 

"  Things  are  come  to  such  a  point,  that  if  some  ener- 
getic means  are  not  adopted  against  so  fatal  a  custom, 
the  Swedish  nation  is  menaced  with  incalculable  evil. 
The  danger  is  not  future  and  contingent,  it  is  a  present 
evil,  the  ravages  of  which  may  be  studied  in  the  present 
generation.  No  measures  can  be  too  strong  ;  it  is 
better  to  save  at  any  price  than  have  to  say,  '  It  is  too 
late.' " 4 

Without  entering  into  all  the  detailed  statistics  given 
in  support  of  the  gravity  of  these  views,  we  may  find 
sufficient  ground  for  them  in  this  one  startling  fact,  given 
on  the  same  authority  as  that  just  cited,  — that  there 
are  one  million  and  a  half  of  persons,  being  about  one 
half  the  Swedish  population,  who  consume  annually 
from  80  to  100  litres  (140  to  175  pints)  of  brandy  or 


ON   DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  Ill 

other  spirit  each  person  !  What  wonder,  then,  that  the 
writer  should  consider  the  country  threatened  with  irre- 
mediable destruction  if  immediate  steps  are  not  taken  to 
arrest  and  counteract  the  evil.  He  also  alleges  positively 
that  the  Swedes,  as  a  nation,  have  already  deteriorated 
both  in  stature  and  physical  strength. 

But  this  is  not  all  ;  there  are  other  facts  which  appear 
to  be  in  direct  and  unmistakable  relation  to  this  practice. 
New  diseases  have  appeared  amongst  the  people,  and  the 
old  ones  have  increased  fearfully,  both  in  numbers  and 
intensity.  The  one  new  disease  chiefly  insisted  upon  is 
an  epidemic  chronic  gastritis,  which  in  isolated  cases  is 
easily  producible  by  alcoholic  abuse  in  our  own  country. 
Scrofulous  affections,  and  others  indicating  great  deteri- 
oration in  the  blood,  attack  all  classes,  rich  and  poor, 
dwellers  in  town  and  dwellers  in  country.  Heritage  also 
plays  its  part,  as  is  customary  where  evil  influences  are 
at  work,  and  children  of  twelve,  ten,  or  eight  years  evince 
the  fatal  predilection.  The  average  duration  of  life  in 
those  parts  of  the  country  where  the  evil  is  most  rife  is 
much  shortened  :  of  this  one  instance  may  be  adduced. 
In  some  districts  where  very  little  alcohol  is  consumed, 
as  in  Jamtland,  the  mortality  is  but  1  in  80  annually. 
In  the  entire  district  of  Erkistuna  the  mortality  is  2  per 
cent  ;  but  in  the  city  of  that  name,  where  drinking  is 
practised  to  an  enormous  extent,  the  mortality  is  3  per 
cent.  Mental  disorders  are  becoming  fearfully  rife,  and 
suicide  occurs  so  frequently  as  to  be  hardly  credible.  In 
ten  years  the  average  of  suicides  between  twenty  and 
fifty  years  of  age  was  1  in  57  deaths  ;  "  But  if,"  says  Dr. 
Huss,  "  we  reckon  as  suicides  those  who  have  died  of  the 
immediate  effects  of  alcohol,  in  a  state  of  intoxication, 
the  proportion  will  rise  to  1  in  30  deaths." 

Crime  also  seems  to  be  greatly  on  the  increase.  In 
the  year  1830  the  proportion  of  criminals  convicted  of 


112  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

various  offences  was  to  the  entire  population  as  1  to  143  ; 
\Q  1845  the  ratio  was  1  in  100.  This  relation  of  intoxi- 
cation to  crime  is  everywhere  observed.  In  our  own 
country  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Banchory,  in  his  excellent 
work  on  "  Punishment  and  Prevention,"  as  regards  crime, 
attributes  two  thirds  at  least  of  all  crime  and  pauperism 
to  drinking. 

"  There  is,"  says  he,  "  a  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
fact,  —  expressed  in  various  forms  by  all,  without  excep- 
tion, who  have  the  means  of  knowing,  —  that  drink  is 
the  great  cause  of  crime  ;  that  but  for  drink  there  would 
be  little  crime,  or,  as  it  has  lately  been  admirably  ex- 
pressed by  Mr.  Recorder  Hill,  '  The  beer-house  and  the 
gin-shop  are  the  authorized  temptations  offered  by  the 
Legislature  to  crime.'  Careful  inquiries  also  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  drink  is  as  much  the  cause  of  pauperism 
as  of  crime,  generally  in  the  person  of  the  pauper  him- 
self ;  but  if  not,  then  in  the  habits  of  his  immediate  an- 
cestors." 

As  may  naturally  be  supposed,  the  effects  in  other 
countries  are  of  similar  nature.  In  England  our  asy- 
lums, our  hospitals,  our  workhouses,  and  our  prisons 
abound  with  the  most  terrible  illustrations  of  the  views 
just  quoted.  In  the  United  States,  it  is  alleged  by 
Michel  Chevalier,  that,  even  at  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  when  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors  was 
not  nearly  so  great  as  at  present,  between  40,000  and 
50,000  persons  died  annually  from  its  effects.  It  can 
scarcely  be  denied  that  in  some  cold  climates,  and  under 
certain  conditions  of  nutrition,  alcohol,  in  some  form  or 
proportion,  may  be  advisable,  or  even  necessary,  as  an 
article  of  diet ;  but  it  has  been  justly  observed  by  Quc- 
telet :  "  Quan<l  mi  d  unfit  cree  un  besoin,  il  est  Men  difficile 
que  Vhomme  rien  fasee  pas  un  r/A//.<." 

Dr.  Maudesley  has  a  passage  in  his   recent  very  valu- 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  113 

able  work,6  so  closely  bearing  upon  this  subject  that  I 
cannot  refrain  from  quoting  it :  "  The  causes  of  the 
defective  cerebral  development  which  is  the  physical  con- 
dition of  idiocy  are  often  traceable  to  parents.  Frequent 
intermarriage  in  families  may  undoubtedly  lead  to  a  de- 
generation which  manifests  itself  in  individuals  by  deaf- 
mutism,  albinism,  and  idiocy.  Parental  intemperance 
and  excess,  according  to  Dr.  Howe,  hold  high  places  as 
causes  of  convulsions  and  imbecility  in  children.  Out 
of  300  idiots  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  whose  histo- 
ries were  carefully  investigated,  as  many  as  145  were  the 
offspring  of  intemperate  parents.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in 
nature,  like  produces  like ;  and  the  parent  who  makes 
himself  a  temporary  lunatic  or  idiot  by  his  degrading 
vice,  propagates  his  kind  in  procreation,  and  entails  on 
his  children  the  curse  of  the  most  hopeless  fate."  € 

Alcohol  is  the  chief  intoxicant  of  European  nations, 
but  it  may  be  stated,  as  a  general  rule,  that  wherever 
man  is  found  there  may  be  found  something  intoxicating 
to  correspond,  whether  it  be  drunk,  chewed,  smoked,  or 
snuffed.  The  inhabitants  of  Polynesia  find  their  highest 
enjoyment  in  making  themselves  drunk  with  a  fermented 
liquid,  prepared  from  a  kind  of  pepper  (Piper  inebrians 
vel  metkysticum).  The  Kamschatkaris  and  other  tribes 
use  for  similar  purposes,  in  various  ways,  the  Agaricus 
muscarius,  smoked,  swallowed,  and  taken  as  snuff.  In 
like  manner  the  Ottomans  use  niopo ;  the  Chinese,  and 
the  Eastern  nations  generally,  use  the  betel-nut,  the 
kaad,  the  nuts  of  kola  and  coca,  all  for  one  and  the  same 
purpose  of  intoxication  or  stupefaction;  but  the  narcotics 
with  whose  use  and  abuse  we  are  the  most  familiar  are 
hachisch,  opium,  and  tobacco. 

The  Indian  hemp  (Cannabis  Indica)  forms  the  basis 
of  most  of  the  intoxicating  preparations  used  in  Egypt, 
Syria,  and  most  Oriental  countries.  The  leaves  are 


114  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

smoked  alone,  or  mixed  with  tobacco,  and  the  fatty  ex- 
tract, known  as  hackisck,  is  eaten  alone,  or  combined  with 
opium  or  other  narcotics.  As  to  its  specific  effects  on 
individuals  and  the  race,  I  will  not  consider  these  sepa- 
rately, but  include  them  with  opium,  which  I  shall  now 
examine,  as  has  been  done  with  alcohol,  as  to  its  effects 
on  the  individual,  the  family,  and  the  community  at 
large. 

The  first  effect  of  taking  a  moderate  quantity  of  opium 
for  purposes  of  stimulation  is  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  or 
content,  and  slight  excitement,  accompanied  by  loquacity 
and  involuntary  laughter.  The  eyes  are  brilliant,  and 
the  respiration  and  circulation  are  quickened  and  excited. 
The  expressions  are  lively,  and  the  imagination  wanders 
off  into  strange  illusions.  Now  and  again  it  may  be 
observed  that  facts  and  ideas  long  forgotten  present 
themselves  to  the  mind  in  all  their  original  freshness. 
The  future  appears  all  bright,  and  all  the  happiness 
ever  wished  for  appears  realized.  These  effects  are 
followed  by  corresponding  depression ;  there  is  a  dimi- 
nution of  muscular  power,  and  of  susceptibility  to  the 
impression  of  external  objects ;  there  is  a  desire  for 
sleep.*  The  effect  is  very  similar  when  smoked,  but 
more  rapid.  As  to  the  disastrous  effects  of  habitual 
eating  or  smoking  of  opium  in  excess,  Dr.  Oppenheim 
writes  :  — 

"  The  habitual  opium-eater  is  instantly  recognized  by 
his  appearance.  A  total  attenuation  of  body,  a  withered, 
yellow  countenance,  and  lame  gait,  a  bending  of  the 
spine,  frequently  to  such  an  extent  as  to  assume  a  cir- 
cular form,  and  glossy,  deep-sunken  eyes,  betray  him  at 
the  first  glance.  The  digestive  organs  are  in  the  highest 
degree  disturbed,  the  sufferer  eats  scarcely  anything,  — 

his  mental  and  bodily  powers  are  destroyed These 

*  See  Per«ira's  "  Materia  Medica,"  sub  roc«. 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN  MAN.  115 

people  seldom  attain  the  age  of  forty,  if  they  have 

begun  to  use  opium  at  an  early  age When  this 

baneful  habit  has  become  confirmed,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  break  it  off;  the  torments  of  the  opium- 
eater,  when  deprived  of  this  stimulant,  are  as  dreadful 
as  his  bliss  is  complete  when  he  has  taken  it :  to  him 
night  brings  the  torments  of  hell ;  day,  the  bliss  of 
paradise." 

Some  writers  say  that  scarcely  any  smoker  of  opium 
can  restrain  himself  within  the  bounds  of  moderation. 
The  Abbe  Hue  is  of  this  opinion,  and  says  that  "nothing 
can  cure  a  confirmed  smoker.  Almost  all  rapidly  attain 
a  fatal  termination,  having  passed,  in  quick  succession, 
the  stages  of  idleness,  debauch,  misery,  the  ruin  of  their 
physical  strength,  and  the  utter  depravation  of  their 
moral  and  intellectual  faculties."  M.  Morel  considers 
that  the  action  of  opium  is  more  pernicious  than  that 
of  alcohol  in  many  particulars,  especially  in  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  disorders  of  the  nervous  system  declare 
themselves.  "  Given  the  period,"  he  says,  "  at  which  a 
person* begins  to  smoke  opium,  it  is  easy  to  predict  the 
time  of  his  death  ;  his  days  are  numbered.  The  physi- 
ological effects  are  uniform,  and  succeed  each  other 
with  an  unvarying  regularity."  The  same  authority 
adds,  that  no  smoker  of  opium  attains  an  advanced  age, 
and  that  their  offspring  are  blanched,  miserable,  and 
struck  with  premature  decay.  The  terminal  scenes  of 
the  life  of  an  opium  drunkard  are  sufficiently  similar 
to  those  of  one  poisoned  by  alcohol,  to  allow  the  descrip- 
tion already  given  of  the  latter  to  stand  for  both. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  any  elaborate  argu- 
ment to  show  that  the  practice  which  exerts  so  powerful 
an  influence  for  evil  over  individuals  and  families  will  be 
attended  with  degeneration  in  the  community,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extent  of  the  evil.  As  alcohol  to  Northern 


116  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

Europe,  so  is  opium  to  China.  The  frightful  increase  in 
this  nation  of  the  habit  of  smoking  opium  may  be  indi- 
cated by  statistics.  In  1810  there  were  sent  to  Canton 
2,500  cases  of  opium ;  in  1820,  4,770  cases ;  in  1830, 
18,760  cases  ;  and  in  1838,  no  less  than  48,000  cases. 
And  this  notwithstanding  all  the  laws  enacted  against  it, 
—  laws  which  the  lawgivers  were  the  first  to  infringe  arid 
set  at  naught. 

"  At  no  period  of  time,"  says  M.  Morel,  "  has  human- 
ity witnessed  a  fact  like  that  we  have  now  to  consider. 
Three  hundred  millions  of  individuals,  united  under  one 
absolute  government,  speaking  the  same  language,  and 
having  identical  religious  notions,  present  to  us  the  sad 
spectacle  of  a  people  menaced,  as  to  its  dearest  interests, 
by  the  most  fatal  and  degrading  habit  it  is  possible  to 
conceive,  —  that  of  smoking  opium." 

That  a  habit  which  produces  such  results  as  we  have 
described  must  produce  baneful  effects  upon  the  society 
in  which  it  exists,  cannot  be  doubted.  And  yet  we  have 
great  difficulty  in  arriving  at  definite  data  concerning 
this  point.  If  we  hear  the  other  side  of  the  question, 
we  shall  be  told  that  the  consumption  of  opium  is  not  so 
generally  practised  as  has  been  stated,  and  that  even  its 
habitual  use  is  not  always  immoderate,  nor  attended  with 
the  evil  consequences  to  the  health  of  the  consumers 
that  might  be  expected.  Drs.  Pereira  and  Christison 
both  hold  to  the  opinion  that  the  evils  attendant  on  a 
moderate  (even  though  habitual)  use  of  opium  have  been 
very  much  exaggerated.  The  former  writer,  quoting  the 
words  of  an  intelligent,  unbiassed  professional  observer, 
concludes  that  — 

"  Although  the  practice  is  most  destructive  to  those 
who  live  in  poverty  and  distress,  and  who  carry  it  to 
excess^yet  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Chinese  in  easy 
circumstances,  and  who  have  the  comforts  of  life  about 


ON   DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  117 

them,  are  materially  affected,  in  respect  to  longevity,  by 
the  private  addiction  to  this  vice.  There  are  many  per- 
sons within  my  own  observation  who  have  attained  the 
age  of  sixty,  seventy,  or  more  ;  and  who  are  well  known 
as  habitual  opium-smokers  for  more  than  thirty  years 
past."  (Op.  cit.,  p.  2013.) 

Another  testimony  to  the  same  effect,  from  Dr.  Eatwell, 
a  well-known  writer,  I  insert  amongst  the  notes  after 
this  paper.7 

Some  authorities  allege  that  there  is  good  ground  for 
supposing  that  the  amount  of  opium-smoking  in  China 
has  been  exaggerated,  in  the  fact  that  tobacco  is  smoked 
to  an  enormous  extent  there,  as  it  is  well  known  that 
the  smoker  of  opium  finds  110  pleasure  in  tobacco.  The 
Abbe  Hue  says  that  the  use  of  tobacco  has  become  uni- 
versal in  the  empire.  "  Men,  women,  and  children,  all 
smoke,  and  almost  without  cessation.  Whatever  the 
employment,  smoke  accompanies  it.  If  they  pause  in 
eating,  it  is  to  smoke  ;  if  they  awake  at  night,  it  is  to 
light  a  pipe."  But,  even  admitting  the  wide  prevalence 
of  the  use  and  abuse  of  opium,  we  can  with  great  diffi- 
culty attach  this  vice  to  any  proofs  of  degeneration 
amongst  the  people.  The  degenerative  element  is  there, 
and  the  vice  is  there  ;  but  although  we  may  hypothecate 
the  causal  connection,  we  cannot  prove  it.  The  data 
are  not  accessible  ;  our  knowledge  of  facts,  past  and 
present,,  is  limited.  In  our  former  investigations,  also, 
we  judged  of  the  degeneration  of  the  people  in- part  by 
the  excess  of  crime,  and  the  great  frequency  of  suicide, 
but  we  cannot  with  propriety  apply  that  test  to  Oriental 
people ;  we  cannot  consider  their  statistics  as  equally 
significant  with  the  records  of  crime  in  Western  nations, 
seeing  that  many  of  those  acts  which  with  us  are  refer- 
able to  crime  or  mental  alienation  are,  amongst  the  Ori- 
entals, to  be  considered  as  attached  to  mistaken  notions 


118  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  morals  and  religion,  or  as  originating  in  peculiar  legis- 
lative enactments.  To  take,  as  an  instance,  suicide  :  it 
is  certain  that  this  crime  is  exceedingly  frequent  in 
China,  yet  it  must  not  be  considered  as  indicative  of  the 
same  amount  of  mental  alienation  in  society  which  an 
equal  average  amongst  ourselves  would  show.  The  Abbe 
Hue  writes  :*  — 

"  It  is  almost  impossible  to  imagine  the  readiness  with 
which  the  Chinese,  commit  suicide.  It  requires  only  the 
merest  trifle  or  a  word  to  induce  him  to  hang  or  drown 
himself,  —  these  being  the  two  kinds  of  suicide  most  in 
favor.  In  other  countries,  when  a  man  wishes  to  revenge 
himself  on  his  enemy,  he  tries  to  kill  him  ;  in  China  he 
kills  himself.  There  are  various  reasons  for  this.  In 
the  first  place,  the  Chinese  government  holds  the  person 
responsible  for  the  crime  of  suicide  who  gave  the  offence 
causing  it.  It  follows  from  this,  that  if  any  one  wishes 
to  avenge  himself  on  his  enemy,  he  has  but  to  kill  him- 
self to  work  him  the  direst  woe.  He  foils  into  the  hands 
of  the  executive,  who  at  least  torture  and  ruin  him,  if 
not  take  his  life.  The  family  also  of  the  suicide  gen- 
erally obtains  large  pecuniary  compensation ;  and  it  is 
not  rare  to  see  wretched  beings,  who  are  devoted  to  their 
family,  go  and  deliberately  commit  suicide  at  the  house 
of  some  rich  person.  On  the  other  hand,  if  any  one 
kills  his  enemy,  he  thereby  exposes  himself,  his  friends, 
and  his  family  to  ruin  and  dishonor,  and  deprives  him- 
self of  the  rites  of  burial,  —  a  capital  point  with  the 
Chinese.  Again,  public  opinion,  instead  '  of  blaming, 
glorifies  and  honors  the  suicide;  and  lastly,  it  appears 
that  the  process  of  judgment  is  so  terrible  in  many  in- 
stances in  China,  that  the  criminal  fears  it  more  than 
death." 

In  like  manner,  consulting  still  the  same  authority, 

*  "  The  Chinese  Empire/'  Vol.  I.  p.  309. 


ON   DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  119 

the  great  frequency  of  infanticide  attaches  itself  rather 
to  mistaken  views  of  demon-worship  than  to  any  actual 
criminal  propensity.  It  is  thus  evident  how  differently 
the  statistics  of  crime  must  be  interpreted  in  reference 
to  the  nations  of  the  East.  But  we  may  conclude,  that 
as  there  does  appear  to  exist  among  the  people  a  ten- 
dency towards  deterioration,  in  their  moral,  physical,  and 
intellectual  condition ;  and  as  the  abuse  of  poisonous 
agents,  such  as  opium,  exercises  so  powerful  an  influence 
for  evil  upon  individuals  and  families, — on  the  principles 
already  set  forth  it  is  rational  to  conclude  that  the  effect 
on  the  race  will  be  analogous.  "  Were  it  otherwise,"  says 
M.  Morel,  "  the  degenerative  effect  of  alcoholism,  heredi- 
tarily considered,  might  be  open  to  doubt ;  but  this  has 
been  proved  by  facts  much  too  serious  and  weighty  to  be 
doubted  ;  and  we  cannot  but  recognize  the  striking  analo- 
gies between  the  consequences  of  alcoholic  poisoning  and 
that  from  other  narcotics.  It  is  greatly  to  be  feared  that 
we  shall,  at  no  distant  date,  have  more  ample  means  for 
deciding  the  question  as  to  the  influence  of  opium  for 
good  or  evil,  by  investigations  in  our  own  country.  It  is 
strongly  suspected  by  those  who  have  the  best  means  of 
knowing,  that  its  consumption  for  sensual  gratification  is 
vastly  on  the  increase  amongst  our  own  population.  I 
will  only  quote  one  statistical  fact  in  reference  to  this 
part  of  the  question.  In  the  year  1830  there  were  one 
hundred  and  four  thousand  pounds  of  opium  received  in 
London,  and  in  1852  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ! 

Meanwhile,  we  have  our  own  special  narcotic,  which 
doubtless  has  its  part  to  play  in  producing  the  various 
degenerations  that  are  claiming  our  attention,  —  tobacco. 
M.  Morel,  like  many  others,  speaks  doubtfully,  or  rather 
guardedly,  on  this  matter.  He  thus  introduces  the 
subject :  — 

"  What  may  be  the  part  which  tobacco  plays  in  the 


120  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

production  of  degeneration  ?  And  admitting  even  that 
its  degenerative  action  is  an  ascertained  fact,  how  far 
would  it  be  good  medical  hygiene  to  attack  the  usage  of 
tobacco,  which  has  become  for  all  nations  not  only  a 
habit,  but  an  imperious  necessity,  to  be  satisfied  at  any 
risk1?  ....  I  have  no  intention  of  attacking  its  use, 
and  that  for  many  reasons  :  first,  it  is  far  from  being 
proved  that  smoking,  in  moderation,  is  in  any  way  in- 
jurious ;  and,  secondly,  it  would  not  be  without  danger 
to  invoke  the  force  of  an  absolute  legislation  against  a 
habit  passed  into  such  an  irresistible  necessity." 

Whatever  may  be  the  state  of  the  case  as  to  the  use 
of  tobacco,  there  can  be  but  little  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  its  abuse.  A  large  proportion  of  men  will  have 
either  tobacco  or  opium  ;  and  of  the  two  evils,  the  for- 
mer is  preferable,  as  less  hurtful  in  general,  and  more 
readily,  though  still  with  difficulty,  kept  in  control. 
But  when  inordinately  used,  the  consequences  are,  in 
their  way.  as  serious  as  those  of  either  alcohol  or 
opium.  The  first  attempts  at  smoking  usually  produce 
nausea  and  vomiting,  but  the  economy  soon  habituates 
itself  to  the  practice.  It  is  certainly  injurious  to  very 
young  people,  before  development  is  completed.  The 
great  quantity  of  saliva  secreted  is  likely  to  interfere 
greatly  with  the  integrity  of  the  digestive  functions. 
Young  smokers  are  generally  pale  and  meagre,  and  their 
nutrition  imperfect.  There  is  alternate  excitement  and 
depression  of  the  nervous  system.  The  smoker  also 
generally  takes  alcoholic  liquors  to  some  considerable 
amount,  and  passes  a  great  part  of  his  time  in  a  vitiated 
atmosphere.  If  we  add  to  this  the  well-known  fact, 
that  the  essential  principle  of  tobacco  is  one  of  our  most 
virulent  poisons,  we  shall  have  pniliaMy  made  out  a 
reasonable  a  priori  case  ;c_rainst  tobacco.  I5ut  facts  do 
not  always  accord  with  foregone  conclusions,  and  the 


ON   DEGENERATIONS    IN    MAN.  121 

question  must  remain  one  for  decision  by  experience. 
If  we  appeal  to  testimony,  it  is  so  varied  that  we  can 
extract  very  little  that  is  reliable  from  it.  In  an  ani- 
mated correspondence  which  appeared  in  the  Lancet  in 
the  year  1857,  on  this  subject,  smoking  was  upheld  by 
some  of  the  writers  as  not  only  innocuous,  but  an  ex- 
cellent therapeutic  and  hygienic  agent,  a  preservative 
against  cold  and  starvation,  a  substitute  for  food,  and  a 
solace  to  the  weary,  whether  of  mind  or  body.  Others 
traced  to  its  use  almost  all  evils,  physical  and  social ; 
especially  reprobating  it  as  producing  insanity,  pa- 
ralysis, consumption,  laryngitis,  tonsilitis,  short  sight, 
emaciation,  dyspepsia,  and  an  infinity  of  other  disorders, 
the  bare  enumeration  of  which  would  have  been  suf- 
ficient, we  should  have  thought,  to  terrify  the  most  de- 
voted smoker.  Amid  this  contest  of  opinion,  the  weight 
of  the  testimony  of  thoughtful  men  went  against  tobac- 
co. The  remarks  made  by  Mr.  Solly,  of  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital,  carry  great  weight  with  them.  In  relating  a 
case  of  paralysis,  he  says  :  — 

"  There  was  another  habit  also  in  which  my  patient 
indulged,  and  which  I  cannot  but  regard  as  the  curse  of 

the  present  age,  —  I  mean  smoking I  know  of  no 

single  vice  which  does  so  much  harm.  It  is  a  snare  and 
a  delusion.  It  soothes  the  excited  nervous  system  for  a 
time,  to  render  it  more  irritable  and  feeble  ultimately. 
....  I  believe  that  cases  of  general  paralysis  are  more 
frequent  in  England  than  they  used  to  be  ;  and  I  suspect 
that  smoking  tobacco  is  one  of  the  causes  of  that  in- 
crease  I  believe,  if  the  habit  of  smoking  ad- 
vances in  England  as  it  has  done  for  the  last  ten  years, 
that  the  English  character  will  lose  that  combination  of 
energy  and  solidity  that  has  hitherto  distinguished  it, 
and  that  England  will  fall  in  the  scale  of  nations." 

Another  writer  says  that,  in  his  experience,  the  blood 
6 


\'2'2  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  smokers  was  instantly  poisonous  to  leeches,  and 
that  fleas  and  bugs  rarely  if  ever  attack  the  smoker. 
He  adds  some  remarks  especially  applicable  to  our  sub- 
ject :  - 

"  If  the  evil  ended  with  the  individual  who,  by  the 
indulgence  of  a  pernicious  custom,  injures  his  own 
health,  and  impairs,  his  faculties  of  mind  and  body,  he 
might  be  left  to  his  enjoyment,  his  fooVs  paradise, 
unmolested.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  In  no 
instance  is  the  sin  of  the  father  more  strikingly  visited 
upon  the  children  than  the  sin  of  tobacco-smoking.  The 
enervation,  the  hypochondriasis,  the  hysteria,  the  in- 
sanity, the  dwarfish  deformities,  the  consumption,  the 
suffering  lives  and  early  death  of  the  children  of  invet- 
erate smokers,  bear  ample  testimony  to  the  feebleness 
and  unsoundness  of  the  constitution  transmitted  by  this 
pernicious  habit."8 

On  the  other  hand,  many  men  of  high  scientific  at- 
tainments and  sound  judgment  consider  the  use  of  to- 
bacco, in  moderation,  and  especially  under  certain  circum- 
stances of  great  hardship  and  privation,  —  as  soldiers 
when  on  active  service,  for  instance,  —  as  not  only  not  in- 
jurious but  beneficial,  both  hygienically,  therapeutically, 
and  psychically ;  whilst,  in  common  with  their  opponents, 
they  recognize  freely  the  very  deleterious  consequences 
attendant  upon  its  abuse,  manifested  particularly  in 
various  nervous  lesions  which  eminently  indicate  de- 
generation. It  is  probable  that  were  society  in  a  more 
natural  condition,  or  one  more  in  accordance  with  the 
most  obvious  rules  of  hygiene,  no  poisonous  agent,  nar- 
cotic or  stimulant,  would  be  habitually  desirable  or  al- 
lowable.  But  want  and  misery,  unhealthy  dwellings 
and  occupations,  the  rapid  whirl  and  contest  of  life,  the 
wear  and  tear  of  hand  work  and  brain  work ;  rivalry, 
emulation,  anxiety,  and  all  the  corroding  passions  and 


ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN  MAN.  123 

affections,  with  the  thousand  irregularities  that  help  to 
form  the  sum  of  modern  existence,  —  all  these  constitute 
for  society  what  may  fairly  be  called  a  diseased  state, 
which  may  properly  be  counteracted  by  narcotics  in  some 
form.  It  may  be  that  they  are  producing  various  forms 
of  ill ;  but  we  do  not  know  quite  certainly  what  they 
may  prevent,  nor  what  strange  new  nervous  phenomena 
might  be  manifested  if  we  should  attempt  to  "  put  new 
wine  into  old  bottles,"  by  adapting  a  rigorously  simple 
regimen,  freed  from  all  stimulants  and  narcotics,  to  so 
clearly  unnatural  a  mode  of  life  as  the  mass  of  men  now 
lead.  The  urgent  need  which  all  peoples  appear  to  feel 
for  these  agents  in  some  form,  the  craving  after,  and  the 
determination  to  have,  them  at  whatever  price,  seem  to 
me  to  indicate  something  more  than  a  mere  moral  dere- 
liction, and  to  point  out  some  stern  necessity  in  the  con- 
stitution of  man  or  society,  which  may  not  be  gainsaid. 
Amid  all  the  evils,  too,  which  arise  from  the  abuse  of 
alcoholic  liquids  and  tobacco,  and  they  are  proteiform, 
we  are  not  without  grounds  of  consolation.  Perhaps 
there  are  few  nations  of  Europe  where  certain  classes  of 
the  population  drink  more  habitually,  and  smoke  more 
constantly,  than  in  England.  Yet  the  rate  of  mortality 
is  lower  in  England  than  in  any  other  European  nation, 
although  it  is  to  be  feared  that  this  rate  is  slowly  in- 
creasing ;  but  mass  for  mass,  or  man  for  man,  it  is  readily 
acknowledged  that  no  people  can  compete  with  our  own, 
whether  for  energy,  or  endurance,  or  bodily  labor. 

But  climate,  soil,  and  food  exercise  a  degenerative  in- 
fluence, at  the  least  as  strong  as  those  already  noticed.  I 
have  given,  in  the  introductory  observations,  some  illus- 
trations of  the  effect  of  a  marshy  residence  on  the  people. 
I  add  another  very  striking  instance,  condensed  from 
Montfalcon's  account  of  the  inhabitants  of  La  Bresse.9 
The  Bressans,  disinherited  by  nature,  feel  only  the  burden 


124  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  life ;  the  mournful  influence  of  their  climate  is  im- 
pressed upon  their  features ;  it  modifies  to  an  extraor- 
dinary extent  their  functions  and  faculties.  They  are 
born  sickly,  and  they  cease  to  live  at  what  should  be 
the  age  of  vigor.  All  the  elements  conspire  to  the  ruin 
of  the  Bressan.  The  air  he  breathes,  the  water  he  drinks, 
are  both  poisoned ;  his  miserable  dwelling  is  scarce  a 
defence  from  a  pernicious  atmosphere  ;  his  food  is  coarse 
and  insufficient,  and  the  kind  of  labor  which  he  pursues 
amid  humid  forests  and  morasses  does  not  permit  him  to 
anticipate  a  brighter  future.  His  stature  is  short,  his 
bones  rickety,  his  skin  sallow,  thin,  and  unhealthy,  his 
muscles  flabby  and  undeveloped,  his  features  tumid,  his 
body  swelled  and  dropsical.  Scarcely  has  he  quitted  the 
breast  when  he  begins  to  languish  and  emaciate  ;  a  large 
proportion  die  before  the  age  of  seven  ;  those  who  sur- 
vive hardly  live,  they  vegetate.  They  are  ever  subject  to 
dropsies,  fevers,  hemorrhages,  chronic  ulcers,  and  a  host 
of  other  diseases,  which  would  render  life  intolerable 
were  it  not  for  a  corresponding  apathy  of  mind.  Melan- 
choly, indifference,  a  sort  of  imbecility,  is  the  habitual 
expression  of  a  countenance  rarely  modified  by  passions. 
Old  age  commences  at  forty-five ;  they  are  decrepit  at 
fifty-five  ;  few  reach  sixty.  "  We  do  not  live"  said  one 
of  these  wretched  creatures  on  one  occasion,  —  "  we  do 
not  live ;  we  die!"  The  children  born  of  such  parents 
are  necessarily  degenerate,  and  being,  in  addition  to  their 
inherited  cachcxia,  always  exposed  to  a  continuance  of 
the  same  original  exciting  cause,  they  are  ever  progress- 
ively deteriorating.  The  population  diminishes,  and 
must  finally  become  extinct  unless  supported  by  immi- 
gration. 

The  marsh,  producing  the  poisonous  miasma,  requires 
for  its  formation  the  following  conditions  :  An  argilla- 
ceous soil,  preventing  the  filtration  of  the  water ;  a  basin 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN  MAN.  125 

where  the  waters  may  accumulate,  and  where  organic 
matter  may  decompose  ;  and  a  temperature  high  enough 
to  determine  the  evaporation  of  water  charged  with  a  mi- 
asmic  principle,  more  or  less  deleterious  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  putrid  matter  contributing  to  its  compo- 
sition. But  these  conditions  need  not  all  be  assembled 
in  what  can  openly  be  recognized  and  spoken  of  as  a 
marsh.  They  may  be  found  in  full  activity  in  the  midst 
of  our  large  cities,  producing  not  only  the  acute  phe- 
nomena of  fever  and  endemic  complaints,  but  also  the 
degradation  and  etiolation  of  the  race  to  an  extent  which 
hardly  yields  to  those  already  noticed. 

But  it  is  not  the  malaria  alone  of  large  cities  that  pro- 
duce these  results.  The  absence,  insufficiency,  and  im- 
purity of  the  nourishment,  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors 
and  sensual  pleasures,  the  absence  of  all  intellectual  and 
moral  culture,  give  a  fearful  assistance  in  producing  de- 
generation. It  would  be  a  stupendous  work  to  give 
even  the  most  concise  analysis  of  all  the  details  tending 
to  prove  this  position,  drawn  from  the  various  official  re- 
ports of  the  various  sanitary  commissions,  with  regard 
to  our  large  towns.  But  it  is  occasionally  profitable  to 
us  to  know  how  we  and  our  country  appear  to  our  neigh- 
bors ;  and  I  shall  therefore  give  one  or  two  extracts  from 
M.  Leon  Faucher's  commentaries  on  Wolverhampton, 
premising  that  his  facts  are  taken,  in  some  instances 
verbatim,  from  the  "  Report  of  the  Children's  Employ- 
ment Commission."  He  first  describes  the  crowding 
together  of  the  dwelling-houses  of  the  working  classes, 
which  he  compares  to  beaver-huts,  only  that  from  the 
houses  there  can  be  seen  no  green  field,  nor  any  fresh 
air  enjoyed.  They  are  surrounded  by  "  stagnant  pools 
of  water  the  color  of  dead  porter,  with  a  glistening  me- 
tallic film  over  them."  10  He  then  proceeds  :  — 

"  It  is  certain  that  under  the  combined  influence  of 


126  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

malaria  and  privation  the  constitution  degenerates,  and 
the  blood  is  impoverished.  The  enfeebled  condition  of 
the  race  is  particularly  manifest  in  the  children  ;  the 
greater  part  are  meagre,  delicate-looking,  and  sometimes 

deformed,  the  girls  especially The  education  of 

early  childhood  is  absolutely  none.  The  child  of  five 
years  nurses  the  child  of  two,  whilst  the  brother  or  sister 
of  seven  watches  over  both,  and  keeps  the  house  in  the 
absence  of  the  parents  the  whole  day.  To  facilitate  this, 
the  mothers  administer  to  the  nurslings  preparations  of 

opium,  as  is  the  case  also  in  Manchester Another 

pathological  phenomenon  manifests  itself,  which  we  be- 
lieve to  be  inevitable  in  the  morbid  degeneration  of  the 
species,  that  is,  the  arrest  of  development  in  the  intellect- 
ual faculties.  Their  intellectual  existence  is  limited  to 
a  certain  age,  beyond  which  not  only  the  faculties  seem 
insusceptible  of  further  evolution,  but  those  children 
even  who  have  been  able  to  learn  forget  irremediably  the 
few  ideas  they  have  acquired. 

"  The  moral  condition  of  the  people  is  no  less  sad. 
But  one  remarkable  and  noteworthy  fact  is  developed  by 
the  inquiry,  that,  notwithstanding  the  general  corruption 
of  manners  consequent  upon  drunkenness  and  unnatural 
accumulations  of  people  in  confined  lodgings,  there  are 
but  few  instances  of  seduction,  and  few  natural  children. 
La  pauvrete  du  sang,  la  maigre  chere,  et  P  epuisement  qui 
suit  le  travail,  ne  laisse  aux  jeunes  filles  ni  temps,  ni  force, 
ni  desir  pour  le  mat.  And  thus  the  unfortunate  creatures 
are  protected  against  the  consequences  of  vice  by  the 
very  excess  of  their  sufferings !  But  the  corruption  of 
the  soul  is  there,  though  the  prostitution  of  the  body  be 
checked  by  such  causes." 

It  is  some  few  years  since  these  lines  were  written. 
Let  us  hope  that  we  have  improved  matters  to  some 
small  extent  since  then,  both  in  Wolverhampton,  and 


ON  DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  127 

also  in  Westminster,  Whitechapel,  Liverpool,  Manchester, 
and  many  other  places  on  which  the  Commission  ani- 
madverted in  terms  not  far  removed  from  those  above 
quoted. 

If  we  had  any  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of  considering 
the  conditions  just  now  enumerated  as  instances  of  true 
degeneration,  they  would  be  removed  by  continuing  the 
investigation  in  the  districts  where  cretinism  abounds. 
Cretinism  is  certainly  one  of  the  best  and  most  distinctive 
illustrations  of  morbid  degeneration  in  our  species.  Per- 
fect cretins  are  specially  characterized  idiots,  whose  bodily 
formation  is  as  stunted  and  imperfect  as  their  mental 
faculties  are  undeveloped.  They  are  terminal  links,  be- 
ing unable  to  perpetuate  their  species.  But  between 
these  complete  cretins  and  their  sound  fellowmen  there 
are  numberless  gradations,  amongst  which  we  find  all 
the  forms  of  "  marsh  degeneration  "  already  alluded  to ; 
probably  indicating  that  whatever  it  may  be  that  deter- 
mines the  production  of  the  one,  the  same  influence, 
acting  with  increased  intensity,  is  the  cause  of  the  other. 
The  physical  conditions  for  the  production  of  cretinism 
are  nearly  the  same  as  those  above  mentioned  as  existing 
in  the  marshy  districts.  In  Savoy  it  is  almost  exclusively 
on  argillaceous  soils  and  those  of  chalky  clay  that  goi- 
trous and  cretinous  affections  appear.  Wherever  there 
are  hills  formed  of  clay  schist,  or  declivities  of  a  black,  glu- 
tinous earth,  in  which  the  rain-torrents  dig  deep  trenches, 
or  enormous  deposits  of  gypsum,  there  we  may 'be  certain 
of  finding  people  profoundly  affected  with  cretinism  and 
goitre.  In  our  own  country  these  conditions  are  found 
chiefly,  or  only,  in  some  parts  of  Derbyshire. 

I  must  now  very  briefly  examine  the  influence  which 
insufficient,  imperfect,  or  exclusive  diet  has  upon  the 
determination  of  degeneration.  Fortunately  we  in  this 
country  know  but  little  of  the  fearful  effects  of  diseased 


128  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

grain  in  producing  epidemic  or  endemic  disorders.  In 
other  countries,  where  rye  and  maize  form  a  great  part 
of  the  diet  of  the  lower  orders,  ample  illustrations  are  to 
be  met  with.  In  certain  years  the  rye  is  affected  with  a 
disease  manifested  in  the  production  of  "  spurs,"  called 
ergot,  and  the  eating  of  this  diseased  grain  in  consider- 
able quantities  produces  one  of  the  most  fearful  affections 
with  which  we  are  acquainted.11  I  will  not  enter  into 
any  detailed  description,  but  merely  say  that  one  of  the 
prominent  symptoms  is  a  dropping  off  of  the  limbs  from 
gangrene,  with  most  intolerable  sufferings.  It  is,  when 
severe,  almost  the  most  fatal  affection  known.  In  the 
mildest  epidemics  half  the  attacked  died ;  in  others,  the 
mortality  was  general.  In  the  epidemic  of  1099,  none 
escaped  who  were  once  affected ;  in  that  of  994,  40,000 
individuals  died  of  it  in  the  south  of  France.  M.  Morel 
illustrates  this  part  of  the  subject  from  the  epidemics  of 
1769  and  1772  chiefly,  and  in  so  doing  takes  occasion  to 
point  out  that  epidemics  are  not  isolated  facts,  but  are 
intimately  connected  with  various  widely  extended  cos- 
mical  changes.  He  attributes  the  disease  of  the  grain 
to  w*et  seasons,  and  alludes  to  the  floods  and  inundations, 
the  earthquakes  and  electrical  phenomena,  the  fogs,  and 
the  immense  amount  of  insect  life,  in  those  years.  Pel- 
lagra is  a  disease  due  to  the  feeding  on  maize  in  Europe, 
which  in  northern  latitudes  is  always  imperfectly  devel- 
oped. The  cause  being  constant,  the  disease  is  endemic. 

The  connection  of  the  convulsive  affection  called  ergot- 
ism with  the  diseased  rye  is  thus  indicated  :  — 

1.  All  the  persons  attacked  had  eaten  rye-meal.  2. 
They  experienced  immediate  amendment  on  change  of 
diet.  3.  They  constantly  relapsed  on  returning  to  that 
kind  of  food.  4.  The  rye  of  these  years  contained  a  very- 
large  quantity  of  ergot.  5.  This  ergot  appeared  to  be 
more  powerful  in  its  effects  than  in  other  years.  6.  The 


ON   DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN.  129 

rye  itself  was  altered,  and  appeared  to  possess  some  of 
the  properties  of  the  ergot. 

The  consideration  of  these  diseases  sheds  a  gleam  of 
light,  lurid  though  it  be,  upon  many  of  the  fearful  epi- 
demics of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  causes  of  which  have 
been,  and  still  are,  hidden  in  so  much  mystery.  In 
tracing  the  source  of  the  maladies  under  present  consid- 
eration to  the  change  in  the  principal  article  of  food 
amongst  so  many  millions,  and  reflecting  also  that  rye  is 
by  no  means  the  only  grain  susceptible  of  such  a  morbid 
transformation  as  to  become  poisonous,  perceiving  also 
the  points  of  analogy  between  these  affections  and  many 
others  from  time  to  time  devastating  large  districts,  we 
cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  important  bearing  which 
this  subject  has  upon  general  hygiene,  and  the  urgent 
and  paramount  claims  for  its  consideration  medically  and 
administratively.  For  although  we  know  nothing  in  this 
land  of  such  fearful  epidemics  as  these,  surely  we  may 
infer  the  less  from  the  greater.  We  see  sporadic  cases 
of  such  diseases  as  those  just  sketched,  —  we  see  them 
in  localities  and  under  circumstances  where  the  causes  of 
degeneration  are  most  rife,  where  nutrition  in  particular 
is  most  imperfect,  and  where  in  general  the  moral  tone 
is  low,  and  hygiene  utterly  neglected.  It  would  appear 
then  to  be  no  hasty  conclusion,  that  similar  causes  are 
in  operation,  though  on  a  less  extended  and  fatal  scale. 

Insufficient  nourishment,  as  might  be  expected,  leaves 
its  traces  upon  humanity  in  various  ways  ;  yet  we  have 
not  data  sufficiently  accurate  and  extensive  to  enable  us 
to  say  positively  what  must  be  considered  sufficient,  or 
the  contrary.  It  is  well  known  that  famines  do  not  occur 
without  being  accompanied  by  disease,  and  positive  star- 
vation must  necessarily  be  deleterious ;  yet  in  all  these 
cases  mixed  causes  are  in  operation,  rendering  it  difficult, 
to  ascertain  with  accuracy  what  amount  and  quality  of 
6*  i 


130  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

food  are  necessary  for  sustaining  life  and  health.  Buffon 
is  of  opinion  that  "  it  is  in  the  action  exercised  upon  the 
economy  by  nourishment  that  we  must  seek  the  principal 
cause  of  the  varieties  of  form  and  feature  in  the  human 
race";  and  also,  that  "gross,  unhealthy,  or  ill-prepared 
nutriment  causes  the  human  race  to  degenerate  :  all  the 
nations  that  live  miserably  are  ugly  and  ill-formed."  Con- 
sequently, people  living  under  a  civilized  government  and 
leading  a  regular  life  must  have  greater  advantages  over 
nomadic  tribes,  or  where  every  individual  must  provide 
for  his  own  support,  and  alternately  suffer  hunger  and 
the  effects  of  an  excess  of  food,  often  of  bad  quality. 
These  latter  might,  perhaps,  after  being  inured  to  it,  have 
more  endurance  of  labor  and  suffering,  but  it  would  only 
be  manifest  in  those  who  survived  the  test.  There  might 
also  in  such  tribes  be  found  a  smaller  number  of  defective 
or  deformed  persons,  as  has  been  alleged  to  be  the  case. 
But  there  is  an  obvious  reason  for  this.  In  civilized 
society  the  helpless,  from  whatever  cause,  are  cared  for 
by  the  community ;  but  amongst  savage  tribes,  where 
each  individual  lives  by  his  own  corporeal  qualifications 
in  the  "  struggle  for  life,"  those  who  are  feeble  and  im- 
perfect perish  by  the  common  law  of  nature. 

It  is  stated  on  good  authority,  that  those  populations 
which  subsist  exclusively  upon  vegetable  diet,  and  that 
in  insufficient  quantity,  are  less  vigorous,  and  can  sup- 
port less  fatigue  than  others,  and  the  proportions  of  the 
limbs  are  altered.  The  Hindoos,  according  to  Dr.  Prich- 
ard,  have  the  arms  much  longer  and  less  muscular  than 
the  Europeans,  and  the  handles  of  their  sabres  are  too 
small  for  English  hands.  It  is  an  unquestioned  fact  that 
English  laborers,  who  cat  more  animal  food  and  drink 
more  fermented  (malt)  liquor  than  those  of  any  other 
country,  can  accomplish  a  much  greater  amount  of  work 
than  these,  cceteris  paribus.  There  is  an  objection  to 


ON   DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  131 

these  views  occasionally  propounded  by  vegetarians,  that 
certain  religious  orders  in  the  Romish  Church,  such  as 
the  Chartreuse,  have  exceedingly  scanty  nourishment 
without  suffering  from  it,  and  that  such  diseases  as  do 
occur  amongst  them  are  apparently  due  to  plethora,  or 
at  least  require  depletion.  It  is  certain  that  under  no 
circumstances,  even  those  of  illness,  do  they  eat  animal 
food  in  any  form ;  only  during  six  months  in  the  year 
are  they  allowed  small  quantities  of  milk,  fish,  cheese, 
and  eggs.  Their  ordinary  diet  consists  of  pulse,  roots, 
and  pot-herbs,  dressed  with  butter  or  oil.  They  have 
only  two  meals  in  the  day,  and  from  September  to  Easter 
only  one.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered,  that  the 
regularity  of  their  life  and  manners,  and  the  necessary 
freedom  from  vices,  will  greatly  tend  to  counteract  the 
depressing  effects  of  such  a  regimen.  But,  in  addition 
to  this,  the  candidates  for  this  order  are  carefully  sifted. 
They  present  themselves  at  adult  age  ;  there  is  a  year  of 
probation  ;  and  if  in  any  particular  the  novice  is  found 
unable  to  bear  the  severity  of  the  discipline  and  regimen, 
he  is  rejected.  Thus  only  those  are  admitted  who  are 
of  strong,  vigorous  constitution,  and  have  demonstrated 
their  power  to  endure  privation. 

Closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  insufficient,  is 
that  of  exclusive  nourishment,  and  particularly  that  by 
the  potato.  Of  its  evil  effects  in  our  own  realm  we  know 
but  little,  except  when  the  potato  is  diseased.  The  evils 
that  may  be  supposed  to  result  from  its  predominant 
use  in  Ireland  may  possibly  be  due  to  other  and  mixed 
causes.  In  other  countries,  however,  it  is  supposed  by 
some  writers  to  have  exercised  a  baneful  influence  on 
the  population.  Dr.  Huss  attributes  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  endemic  Scandinavian  maladies  to  this 
diet ;  and  congratulates  himself  that  the  potato  disease 
has  compelled  the  inhabitants  to  return  to  the  cultivation 


132  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  other  alimentary  plants,  which  they  had  too  much 
neglected.  Haller,  Kortum,  Weber,  Neumann,  and  many 
others,  affirm  that  the  over  use  of  this  vegetable  causes 
scrofulous  affections.  Swainson  *  relates  it  as  a  curious 
fact,  that  the  aborigines  of  New  Zealand  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  scrofulous  affections  up  to  the  time  of  the  intro- 
duction of  the  potato,  but  after  that  they  have  been 
cruelly  tormented  thereby.  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  New-Zealanders,  concurrently  with  the  potato, 
received  from  the  Europeans  the  gifts  of  small-pox  and 
other  diseases,  as  well  as  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors  ; 
facts  which  must  certainly  weigh  heavily  in  any  calcula- 
tion as  to  causation.  It  is  possible  that  in  all  countries 
where  scrofula  prevails,  a  very  exclusive  use  of  the  potato 
may  have  tended  to  aggravate  its  ravages,  and  to  pro- 
duce general  deterioration,  which  may  indeed  be  said  of 
the  exclusive  use  of  any  article  of  diet ;  but  it  is  going  too 
far  to  attribute  the  whole  evil  to  such  a  source.  From  all 
these  considerations,  however,  we  may  conclude  how  diffi- 
cult a  thing  it  is  to  arrive  at  anything  like  truth,  where 
the  elements  of  calculation  are  so  involved  and  complex. 
Thus  far  we  have  been  concerned  chiefly  with  causes 
of  degeneration  acting  singly.  But  there  are  circum- 
stances where  we  find  many  of  these  causes  acting  in 
combination,  and  producing  results  more  extended  and 
more  intense  in  proportion  to  the  complexity  of  the  in- 
fluences in  action.  No  better  illustration  can  be  found 
of  the  operation  of  these  mixed  causes  than  in  the  his- 
tory of  certain  conquests,  where  the  victors  and  the  van- 
quished alike  suffered.  Here  we  find  the  influence  of 
all  the  intoxicant  agents,  conjoined  with  climatic  agency, 
and  the  neglect  of  all  the  ordinary  hygiene  of  nations, 
the  relations  of  conquerors  to  conquered,  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  habits,  manners,  and  diseases.  Hence  re- 

*  "  Climate  of  New  Zealand." 


ON  DEGENERATIONS   IN  MAN.  133 

suits  the  disappearance,  in  many  instances,  of  the  in- 
digenous races,  and,  failing  their  disappearance,  their 
almost  inevitable  degradation.12 

The  history  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  conquests 
abounds  with  illustrations  of  these  points.  The  con- 
quered races  have  wellnigh  disappeared ;  whilst  the 
conquerors  have  greatly  degenerated,  and  their  mixture 
with  the  aborigines  has  produced  a  degraded  race,  which 
presents  no  element  of  perfectibility  in  the  future.  For 
instance,  in  Malacca  there  remain  3,000  descendants  of 
the  old  Portuguese  conquerors.  Their  fathers  were  the 
companions  of  Vasco  de  Gama  and  Albuquerque ;  yet 
they  are  in  a  state  of  utter  degradation,  even  as  com- 
pared with  the  aborigines  amongst  whom  they  dwell. 
They  bear  chiefly  great  names,  but  they  have  no  idea  of 
their  ancestry,  or  their  glorious  deeds ;  even  tradition  is 
lost.  Their  degradation  presents  itself  under  its  charac- 
teristic forms,  —  stunted  growth,  physical  ugliness,  de- 
fect of  viability  in  the  children,  obtuse  intelligence,  per- 
verted instincts,  and  a  succession  of  progressive  morbid 
transformations,  reaching  finally  the  extreme  limits  of 
imbecility.  Dr.  Yvan,  from  whom  these  details  are  chief- 
ly taken,  adds,  that  they  are  in  the  most  frightful  destitu- 
tion, living  almost  promiscuously,  like  wild  beasts  ;  they 
do  not  till  the  ground  ;  they  live  without  any  social  laws  ; 
they  have  no  priest,  nor  any  form  of  legislation.  They 
have  no  idea  of  time,  and  appear  incapable  of  conversa- 
tion. The  men  smoke,  and  the  women  chew  betel-nut, 
"  tenant  suspendues  d,  leurs  mamelles  affaissees  quelques 
avortons  debiles"  \ 

In  inquiring  into  the  causes  of  this  degeneration,  we 
first  meet  with  the  crossing  of  the  races,  to  which  the 
Portuguese  have  shown  less  antipathy  than  the  Dutch, 
English,  or  French.  Climatic  agency  exerts  its  power- 
ful influence  of  enervation ;  but  more  than  all  this  is 


134  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

the  fact  of  the  adoption  of  a  system  (or  rather  an  ab- 
sence) of  hygiene  and  morals,  simultaneously  with  the 
mixture  of  breed,  which  belonged  neither  to  themselves 
nor  to  the  aborigines  at  first,  but  has  grown  out  of  the 
despair  or  apathy  of  the  one,  and  the  luxurious  sensu- 
ality of  the  other.  M.  Morel  thus  comments  on  these 
facts  :  — 

"  It  is  from  not  having  comprehended  these  ideas,  so 
simple  in  appearance,  that,  in  their  relations  towards 
the  people  of  the  New  World,  Europeans  have  generally 
failed  in  their  mission  of  civilization.  Thus  it  has  hap- 
pened that,  instead  of  assimilating  the  aborigines  to 
themselves  by  the  intellectual  and  moral  element,  which 
tends  to  regenerate  races  and  to  raise  them  from  their 
decayed  condition,  they  have  imposed  customs  upon 
them  incompatible  with  the  infantile  condition  in  which 
they  were  found ;  they  have  developed  in  them  desires 
dangerous  to  satisfy,  and  appetites  of  the  grossest 
character It  is  sad  to  confess  that  the  anthropo- 
logical science  of  the  eighteenth  century  has  contrib- 
uted to  this  result,  by  determinedly  classing  these 
races  as  a  distinct  species,  —  races  whose  differences 
ought  to  be  examined  only  with  reference  to  those 
causes  which  have  modified  naturally,  or  morbidly,  the 

one  primitive  type The  contact  of  the  people  of 

the  Old  and  New  Worlds  has  been  attended  generally 
with  such  unfortunate  results,  that  many  authors  con- 
sider 18  that  when  two  forms  of  civilization  are  in  pres- 
ence, assimilation  cannot  take  place  under  the  ordinary 
conditions  of  progress  in  humanity  ;  and  thus  they  ex- 
plain the  extinction  of  many  American  races,  and  the 
return  of  others,  once  civilized,  to  a  savage  life,  with  in- 
stincts more  depraved  than  before.  They  find,  further, 
the  proof  of  this  in  the  presence,  in  the  midst  of  Euro- 
peans, of  the  melancholy  remains  of  ancient  races,  never 


ON   DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  135 

completely  assimilated  to  our  forms  of  civilization,  or 
who  have  only  adopted  our  vices,  and  become  affected 
with  our  diseases." 

I  have  thus  briefly  and  imperfectly  reviewed  a  few  out 
of  the  very  many  causes  of  human  degeneration  alluded 
to  in  my  original  programme,  indicating  from  time  to 
time  their  connection,  in  a  causative  aspect,  with  mental 
disease,  and  other  profound  lesions  of  the  functions  of 
the  nervous  system,  and  a  fortiori  with  that  plentiful 
harvest  of  vice  and  crime  of  which  these  are  but  the  seeds. 
The  limits  proposed  to  myself  for  this  subject  forbid  the 
entering  upon  any  further  details.  Nor  is  it  necessary  ; 
for  the  modus  operandi  is  much  the  same  in  all  cases, 
consisting  in  the  production  of  an  enfeebled  nervous 
system,  a  polarity  towards  all  temptation,  and  a  will  and 
power  of  resistance  proportionally  diminished.  I  cannot 
now  do  more  than  barely  mention  that  there  are  other 
causes  of  degeneration,  especially  in  nations  and  empires, 
of  a  different  character  to  any  of  those  we  have  been 
discussing,  viz.  those  connected  with  luxury  and  material 
prosperity.  The  operation  of  these  causes  is  too  complex 
and  too  important  to  be  hastily  treated.  Reviewing  the 
ground  over  which  we  have  passed,  we  have  found  that 
in  certain  habits,  manners,  and  customs  ;  in  certain  phases 
of  the  social  condition  in  which  man  exists  ;  in  certain 
circumstances  connected  with  the  food  he  eats,  the  air 
he  breathes,  the  water  he  drinks,  and  the  soil  upon  which 
he  lives,  —  there  are  degenerating  influences,  the  com- 
bined result  of  which  is  to  form,  in  every  society,  classes 
morbidly  modified,  whose  contact  with  the  sound  part  of 
the  population  is  a  perpetual  source  of  danger ;  classes 
who  possess  neither  the  understanding  of  the  duty  nor 
the  sentiment  of  the  morality  of  actions,  and  whose  minds 
are  not  susceptible  of  being  enlightened  or  even  consoled 
by  any  religious  idea.  Some  of  these  varieties  have  been 


136  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

justly  designated  by  the  title  of  THE  DANGEROUS  CLASS KS. 
Hitherto  these  unfortunate  beings  have  been  the  obstacle 
par  excellence,  and  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  all  ef- 
fective legislation.  Perhaps,  if  the  theory  of  their  pro- 
duction that  we  have  been  considering  be  correct,  and  be 
received  as  such,  a  new  light  may  be  thrown  upon  the 
treatment  that  such  cases  require,  when  they  are  viewed, 
not  so  much  as  individually  criminal,  as  unfortunately 
resuming  in  their  own  persons  the  evil  tendencies  of  their 
ancestry.  It  is  in  these  matters,  more  than  in  any  other, 
that  a  knowledge  of  the  disease  is  half  the  cure.  I  can- 
not enter  upon  the  vast  subject  of  legislative,  moral,  and 
hygienic  agencies  necessary  to  counteract  the  influences 
which  we  have  seen  in  operation.  The  day  when  the 
principles  here  indicated  will  be  acted  upon  is  still  far 
distant.  The  poor  will  not  cease  out  of  the  land,  nor 
will  vice ;  and  whilst  poverty  and  sensuality  exist,  there 
will  be  the  production  of  the  evils  we  have  enumerated. 
Meantime,  it  is  to  the  spread  of  the  moral  law,  in  its 
most  extended  sense,  that  we  must  look  for  the  mitigation 
of  this  curse  ;  the  moral  law,  aided  by  appropriate  phys- 
ical prophylaxis  and  hygiene  ;  for  there  are  still  moralists 
who  have  need  to  be  convinced  that  the  moral  law  can 
only  become  fully  and  truly  fruitful  in  a  sound  organism. 


III. 

ON  MORAL  AND  CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS. 

PROBLEM  :  Are  mental  affections  and  tendencies  contagious, 
like  bodily  diseases  ?     If  so,  under  what  conditions  ? 

WHILST  the  science  of  teratology  was  still  young  and 
unrecognized,  Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire  was  one  day  told  by  a 
friend  of  a  wonderful  foetal  monstrosity  which  had  just 
been  shown  him.  "  Did  you  see  at  the  same  time,"  asked 
Geoffroy,  "  the  abortive  placenta  and  umbilical  cord  of 
the  second  foetus  V'  "  Then  you  have  seen  it?"  asked 
his  friend.  "  No,"  was  the  answer  ;  "  but  these  are  the 
necessary  and  inevitable  conditions  of  an  abnormal  devel- 
opment such  as  you  describe." 

The  philosopher  recognizes  no  accident.  To  him  there 
is  no  phenomenon  without  a  cause,  an  antecedent  ade- 
quate to  its  production ;  no  cause  but  such  as  is  reducible 
to  laiv.  He  sees  alike  in  the  normal  progress,  and  in  the 
apparently  exceptional  conditions  of  the  physical  and 
moral  world,  only  illustrations  of  law  and  order.  The 
l;i\v  may  appear  to  be  broken,  nay,  controverted  by  ir- 
regularities ;  the  order  may  seem  to  be  disturbed  by  dis- 
orders ;  anomalies  may  present  themselves  ;  —  yet  in  all 
this  he  sees  but  evidence  of  wider  grasp  and  adaptability  ; 
of  general  principles  illustrated  under  conditions  not  yet 
investigated,  yet  susceptible  of  being  so  :  the  anomaly  he 
knows  to  be  only  such  in  reference  to  his  own  finite  pow- 
LM-S  and  intelligence  ;  he  even  retains  his  conviction,  —  a 
conviction  which  affords  the  only  stable  foundation  for  all 


138  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

science,  —  that  similar  elements,  reacting  under  similar 
conditions,  will  produce  similar  results  ;  and  his  con- 
fidence that  the  same  power  which  regulates  the  suc- 
cession of  day  and  night,  of  seed-time  and  harvest,  is  in 
operation  to  "  guide  the  whirlwind  and  direct  the  storm." 

Does  an  earthquake  spread  ruin  and  devastation  over 
a  district ;  does  famine  or  pestilence  exhale  its  baneful 
influence  over  a  continent ;  does  a  comet  glare  threat- 
eningly upon  the  earth  for  a  time,  and  pass  away  into 
illimitable  space  ;  does  the  sea  swallow  up  the  dry  land, 
or  the  land  encroach  upon  the  sea,  —  in  all  this  he  sees, 
not  the  evidence  of  any  new  and  unknown,  but  the 
manifestations  of  the  universal  law,  acting  under  con- 
ditions as  yet  imperfectly  known  to  him. 

Lastly,  does  war  decimate  whole  kingdoms,  or  a  moral 
blight  pass  over  and  corrupt  a  community  or  a  nation  ; 
he  knows  that  the  passions,  impulses,  appetites,  instincts, 
prejudices,  and  weaknesses  of  man  are,  as  they  ever  were, 
the  source  of  all  moral  disturbances.  The  elements  are 
constant,  though  their  combinations  may  be  variable. 
Hence  the  history  of  yesterday  is  the  interpretation  of 
to-day,  the  prophecy  of  to-morrow.  With  this  conviction 
of  the  constancy  of  the  relation  between  cause  and  effect 
ineradicably  fixed  in  the  mind,  he  boldly  yet  cautiously 
sets  about  the  investigation  of  these  apparently  irregular 
phenomena,  and  the  conditions  under  which  they  occur. 
He  collects  and  compares  numbers  of  similar  and  analo- 
gous facts,  he  considers  carefully  the  powers  which  are 
proximately  operative  in  their  production,  he  separates 
the  casual  from  the  universal,  the  essential  from  the  ad- 
ventitious, and  analyzes  the  whole  on  strictly  inductive 
principles. 

And  great  is  his  reward  !  Not  only  are  the  irregu- 
larities themselves  reduced  to  system  and  order,  but,  in 
their  turn,  they  are  made  to  contribute  their  quota  to 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  139 

the  knowledge  and  definition  of  the  very  laws  themselves 
from  which  they  seem  to  err.  It  was  by  observation, 
on  such  principles  as  these,  of  the  abnormal  develop- 
ments of  animal  structure,  that  Geoffroy  not  only  con- 
structed the  science  of  teratology,  but  also  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  the  discovery  and  definition  of  the  true  arche- 
type of  the  osseous  skeleton  ;  it  was  by  analysis  of  the 
irregularities  of  the  pendulum  that  the  figure  of  the  earth 
was  determined  ;  it  was  by  the  observance  of  what  were 
at  first  deemed  to  be  casualties  that  polarized  light  was 
discovered,  and  all  the  laws  of  optics  defined  and  ad- 
vanced. But  perhaps  the  most  striking  illustration  of 
this  principle  that  the  world  has  ever  witnessed  has  been 
presented  during  the  last  few  years,  in  the  discovery  of 
the  planet  Neptune.  Certain  irregularities  in  the  mo- 
tions of  Saturn  and  Uranus  had  long  been  observed, 
which  were  of  so  peculiar  a  nature  that  it  even  began  to 
be  conjectured  that  at  the  confines  of  our  system  law 
was  not  so  certain  in  its  operations  as  near  the  centre. 
It  was  evident,  however,  that  this  view,  if  received,  would 
tend  to  sap  the  foundation  of  all  science ;  and  men  like 
Leverrier  and  Adams,  who  were  content  to  recognize  no 
effect  without  a  definite  and  sufficient  cause  which  would 
inevitably  and  invariably  produce  the  phenomenon,  bold- 
ly hypothecated  the  existence  of  such  a  cause ;  and  by 
pursuing  a  chain  of  inductive  and  mathematical  reason- 
ing and  analysis,  which  appears  almost  superhuman, 
they  were  enabled  ultimately  to  point  their  telescope  to 
that  part  of  the  heavens  where  the  disturbing  body 
ought  to  exist,  —  where,  it  did  actually  exist,  and  so  to 
extend  the  knowledge  of  our  planetary  system  twice  as 
far  into  space  as  before. 

The  aspect  of  the  present  times  leads  us  anxiously 
and  earnestly  to  inquire  whether  some  similar  system 
of  investigation  may  not  be  applied  with  advantage  to 


140  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

the  solution  of  the  startling  problems  which  are  every- 
where presented  to  us.  The  science  of  Sociology  is  new 
and  imperfect ;  yet  we  are  sure  that  it  will  afford  no 
exception  to  the  general  rule  which  obtains  in  all  :  that, 
if  perfected,  it  must  be  through  a  careful  observation  of 
its  abnormal  or  exceptional,  as  well  as  its  normal  phe- 
nomena. Nothing  is  stronger  than  the  contrast  between 
mind  and  matter,  as  to  their  essential  (or  rather,  phe- 
nomenal} nature ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  is 
more  striking  than  the  correspondence  in  their  mode  of 
development,  and  in  the  laws  which  they  mutually  obey  ; 
such  correspondence  perhaps  arising  in  some  measure 
from  the  fact  that  mind  is  only  manifested  through  its 
connection  with  matter,  and  also  in  many  cases  from  the 
overpowering  influence  which  each  in  turn  exerts  upon 
the  other.  As  the  body  has  its  condition  of  health,  in- 
cluding many  gradations  of  energy  and  power,  so  the 
mind  has  its  normal  state,  extending  from  the  verge  of 
imbecility  to  the  intelligence  almost  godlike ;  as  the 
body  is  affected  by  diseases  of  excitement  or  depression, 
so  the  mind  has  its  passions,  its  mania,  its  melancholy ; 
as  plague  and  pestilence  attack  and  hurry  off  their  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  at  one  time,  —  so  to  an  equal 
extent  does  a  more  terrific  blight  than  this  pass  over  a 
country  or  a  continent,  at  variable  and  uncertain  periods 
in  the  history  of  man,  changing  the  whole  aspect  of  his 
moral  nature,  and  converting  what  was  once  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God  into  the  semblance  of  a  fiend.  At 
one  time  the  spirit  of  (falsely  so  called)  religious  contro- 
versy will  arouse  the  most  ferocious  passions  of  which 
human  nature  is  susceptible,  provoking  mutual  persecu- 
tions, bloodshed,  and  wars ;  at  another  an  epidemic  of 
resistance  to  constituted  authority  will  spread  over  half 
a  world  (;is  in  the  year  1848),  rapid  and  simultaneous  as 
the  most  virulent  bodily  disorder.  Again  is  the  col- 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.          141 

lectivs  character  of  mental  phenomena  illustrated  by  an 
anomalous  psychological  condition  invading  and  dominat- 
ing over  thousands  upon  thousands,  depriving  them  of 
everything  but  automatic  action,  and  giving  rise  to  the 
popular  opinion  of  demoniacal  possession,  —  an  opinion 
in  some  sense  j  ustified  by  the  satanic  passions,  emotions, 
and  acts  which  accompany  the  state.  At  one  period,  the 
aggregate  tendency  is  to  retirement  and  contemplation ; 
hence  the  countless  votaries  of  monachism  and  anachor- 
etism  :  at  another  the  mania  is  directed  towards  action, 
having  for  its  proposed  end  some  Utopian  scheme,  equal- 
ly impracticable  and  useless ;  hence  the  myriads  who 
have  forsaken  their  kindred,  their  homes,  and  their 
country,  to  seek  a  land  whose  stones  were  gold,  or  to 
wage  exterminating  war  for  the  possession  of  worthless 
cities  and  trackless  deserts. 

Less  disastrous  than  these  in  their  influence  numer- 
ically upon  the  mass  of  mankind,  perhaps  much  more  so 
in  their  demoralizing  results,  are  those  cases  in  which, 
in  the  absence  of  proper  moral  culture,  the  seeds  of  vice 
and  crime  appear  to  be  sown  under  the  surface  of  soci- 
ety, and  to  spring  up  and  bring  forth  fruit  with  appall- 
ing rapidity  and  paralyzing  succession.  Here  it  is  a 
forgery,  bringing  ruin  upon  thousands  ;  there  a  suicide, 
the  consequence  and  self-imposed  penalty  for  other 
crimes.  Now  a  brother's  hand  is  raised  against  his 
brother,  a  son's  against  his  father  ;  now  it  is  the  mother 
who  forgets  even  her  natural  instincts,  and  lifts  a  mur- 
derous hand  upon  her  child  ;  and  again  the  nearest  and 
dearest  relation  of  life  —  that  of  husband  and  wife  — 
is  violently  severed  by  the  administration  of  secret  poi- 
son. A  panic  seizes  upon  society;  man  is  afraid  "for 
the  terror  by  night,"  and  for  the  "  arrow  that  flieth  by 
day,"  for  "  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,"  and 
for  the  "  sickness  that  destroyeth  in  the  noonday."  He 


142  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

knows  not  whence  the  next  stroke  may  come,  so  unex- 
pected, so  unnatural,  is  the  source  of  these  crimes ;  the 
foundations  of  all  social  and  domestic  confidence  are 
sapped  by  suspicion,  and  we  think  we  hear  again,  as  of 
old,  the  pathetic  lament  :  — 

"  It  is  not  an  open  enemy  tluat  hath  done  this  thing,  for 
then  I  could  have  borne  it ;  neither  was  it  mine  adversary 
that  did  rise  up  against  me,  for  then  peradventure  I  would 
have  hid  myself  from  him  ;  but  it  was  even  thou,  my  com- 
panion, my  guide,  and  mine  own  familiar  friend.  We 
took  sweet  counsel  together,  and  walked  together  as  friends." 

It  is  fearful  to  think  how  forcible  an  illustration  of 
this  kind  of  epidemic  is  afforded  us  by  the  history  of 
the  last  few  months  (1856).  Crime  succeeds  crime  with 
unparalleled  rapidity,  like  the  monotonous  strokes  of  a 
moral  knell. 

The  phenomena  are  thus  noticed  by  contemporary 
writers  :  — 

"  It  is  very  difficult  to  refrain  from  the  conclusion 
that  we  are,  just  now,  living  in  the  presence  of  an  in- 
creased accumulation  of  greater  crimes  than  has  been 
before  witnessed  by  the  present  generation.  We  do  not 
forget  the  notorious  criminals  of  the  first  portion  of  the 
present  half-century,  the  Thurtells  and  Fauntleroys  of 
that  day ;  but  there  was  not  that  fearful  constellation 
of  crime,  as  we  may  term  it,  which  we  witness  in  these 
days,  and  which  almost  every  week  increases,  by  some 
deed  which,  either  in  the  depth  of  the  sin  or  the  rank 
of  the  sinner,  shocks  and  distresses  the  whole  nation. 
Murders,  forgeries,  suicides,  —  suicides,  forgeries,  mur- 
ders, —  to  say  nothing  of  other  sins,  have  come  upon  us 
alternately  with  fearful  frequency,  and  in  high  plaro  as 
well  as  low.  No  sooner  had  cue  case  spread  over  the 
whole  kingdom  than  another  occurs  to  eclipse  it,  or  to 
dispute  a  place  with  it  in  the  public  mind.  The  legisla- 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  143 

ture,  commerce,  the  race-course,  the  private  family,  alike 
contribute  to  swell  the  list ;  the  single  apartment  of  the 
working  classes  and  the  stately  halls  of  the  aristocracy 
are  equally  the  scene  of  'lamentation,  mourning,  and 
woe.'"1 

Another  enters  a  little  more  into  the  causes  of  the 
same  phenomena,  particularly  as  to  imitation :  — 

"  An  epidemic  of  murders  seems  to  be  raging  just  now. 
We  can  hardly  take  up  a  daily  paper  without  reading  of 
some  fresh  murder  of  more  than  usual  atrocity,  while  the 
details  of  the  great  Rugeley  case,  dragged  slowly  to  light 
by  the  untiring  and  unerring  ministry  of  science,  fill  us 
with  horror  and  amazement  that  such  a  series  of  such 
crimes  should  be  possible  in  the  broad  daylight  of  our 
nineteenth  century  of  civilization But  the  Ruge- 
ley case  is  far  from  being  the  only  one  which  painfully 
occupies  the  attention  of  the  public.  During  the  last 
weeks,  great  crimes  —  especially  murders  —  have  suc- 
ceeded each  other  with  a  rapidity  which  suggests  and 
explains  the  title  of  our  article.  Crime  propagates  itself 
by  infection,  like  fever  and  small-pox,  and  at  times  it 
seems  as  if  the  infection  came  abroad  into  the  atmos- 
phere, and  exacted  its  tribute  from  every  class  and  every 
district  of  the  country.  The  laws  of  moral  infection, 
and  the  propagation  of  moral  disorders,  are  among  the 
most  recondite  and  difficult  subjects  of  contemplation ; 
there  is  something  fearful  in  the  very  thought  that  man 
may  so  abdicate  his  moral  freedom  as  to  bring  his  will 
and  moral  nature  under  the  sway  of  laws  as  imperious 
and  resistless  as  those  which  sustain  and  balance  the  or- 
bits of  the  stars.  But  we  cannot  be  blind  to  the  fact. 
There  is  a  large  class  of  minds  over  which  great  crimes 
exert  a  kind  of  fascination,  and  those  who  have  never 
trained  themselves  to  exercise  the  responsibilities  of 
moral  freedom  are  liable  to  become  the  victims  of  the 


144  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

strangest  delusions,  and  catch  readily  the  moral  infection 
which  is  always  lurking,  and  sometimes  raging,  in  the 
atmosphere  of  our  world.  Let  a  woman  fling  herself 
from  the  top  of  the  Monument,  and  the  gallery  has  to 
be  railed  in  like  a  wild  beast's  cage,  lest  the  contagion 
should  spread,  and  Monument-yard  should  become  the 
Tyburn  of  suicides.  Let  a  particular  poison  have  been 
used  with  deadly  effect  in  an  ignorant  and  demoralized 
district,  and  it  must  be  mixed  with  some  alien  substance 
to  color  it,  lest  it  should  become  the  instrument  of  sys- 
tematic and  wholesale  butchery.  '  Man  that  is  withoui 
understanding  is  like  the  beasts  that  perish?  said  a  wise 
one  of  old,  and  in  nothing  is  he  more  beast-like  than  in 
the  facility  with  which  he  becomes  the  slave  of  the  laws 
he  was  set  to  govern,  and  buries  his  moral  freedom  liter- 
ally in  the  dust." 2 

Whilst  writing  this  very  page,  a  report  is  put  into  otrf 
hands  of  an  event  which  seems  from  its  incredible  au» 
dacity  to  put  into  the  shade  all  those  to  which  allusion  is 
made  in  these  passages.  An  independent  gentleman, 
resident  in  one  of  our  largest  northern  towns,  is  supposed 
to  have  poisoned  his  young  wife  with  strychnine,  actually 
administered  before  witnesses,  in  jelly  and  other  articles 
of  diet ;  boldly  persisted  in,  in  spite  of  her  complaints 
of  their  bitterness,  in  spite  of  others  tasting  them  and 
confirming  her  statement.  The  details  are  not  yet  fully 
known,  and  we  would  not  prejudge  the  case ;  yet  the 
evidence  seems  so  strong  and  so  direct  as  scarcely  to  ad- 
mit of  doubt. 

[Shortly  after  this  was  written,  the  crime  in  question 
was  fully  proved,  and  the  murderer  executed.  It  ap- 
peared clearly  from  the  evidence  that  the  idea  of  the 
murder  was  suggested  —  apparently  without  other  or 
adequate  motive  —  by  the  Kugeley  murder ;  and  the 
fancied  impunity  from  detection  was  inferred  from  the 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.          145 

conflicting  scientific  (!)  evidence  adduced  in  that  case. 
This  will  be  again  noticed  in  the  sequel.] 

The  last  testimony  which  it  is  necessary  to  adduce  as 
to  the  actual  existence,  at  this  present  time,  of  an  epi- 
demic of  crime,  is  part  of  the  address  of  the  Recorder, 
in  the  opening  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Central  Crimi- 
nal Court  on  March  3.  It  is  of  great  value,  as  afford- 
ing legal  and  official  recognition  of  a  most  important 
fact.  He  thus  contrasts  the  state  of  England  now  with 
its  condition  two  years  back  :  — 

"  He  had  before  him  a  return  of  offences  committed 
down  to  the  year  1854,  from  which  it  appeared  that,  al- 
though undoubtedly  there  was  a  considerable  increase  in 
the  amount  of  crime  that  had  been  committed  down  to 
that  period,  yet  the  increase  was  mainly  in  cases  of  ordi- 
nary felony  of  a  trifling  character,  and  was  quite  account- 
ed for  by  the  increase  in  the  population  and  the  increased 
amount  of  property  in  the  country,  and  also  by  the  im- 
proved condition  of  the  police.  As  regarded  crimes  of 
violence,  such  as  murder,  manslaughter,  attempts  to  mur- 
der, and  other  offences  of  that  class,  it  appeared  that  dur- 
ing the  same  period  there  had  been  a  diminution  of  such 
offences  to  the  extent  of  thirteen  per  cent.  It  seemed, 
however,  that  it  was  the  same  in  the  history  of  nations 
as  of  individuals,  that  there  were  certain  periods  of  great 
calamities  without  any  apparent  traceable  cause.  Dur- 
ing the  last  twelve  months,  after  having  for  forty  years 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  peace,  they  had  been  familiar- 
ized with  all  the  horrors  of  war,  and  there  was  no  doubt 
that  during  the  same  period  the  most  heinous  crimes 
had  been  committed  by  persons  of  high  station,  by  per- 
sons also  holding  a  high  position  in  the  commercial  and 
banking  community,  and  also  by  persons  in  a  more 
humble  position  of  life ;  and  in  this  court  there  had  cer- 
tainly been  a  most  unusual  number  of  cases  involving 
7  j 


146  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

the  destruction  of  human  life.  It  was  no  part  of  his 
duty,  or  that  of  the  grand  jury,  to  enter  into  any  consid- 
eration of  the  causes  that  had  led  to  this  state  of  things, 
nor  whether  it  arose  from  any  peculiar  circumstances  in 
the  state  of  the  country  or  of  the  law ;  but  the  subject 
was  one  that  was  entitled  to  grave  reflection,  and  it  cer- 
tainly ought  to  urge  them  all  to  do  everything  in  their 
power  to  extend  education  among  the  people,  and  to  im- 
prove their  condition,  as  the  most  effectual  means  for 
the  prevention  of  crime." 

For  the  investigation  of  this  lamentable  state  of  soci- 
ety wTe  propose  to  make  use  of  the  same  calculus  which 
we  have  seen  to  be  of  such  signal  service  in  physical  sci- 
ence, viz.  to  collect  a  number  of  analogous  instances, 
and  to  analyze  the  conditions  under  which  they  occur, 
with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  solution  of  these  ques- 
tions :  — 

1.  What  is  the  condition  of  mind  most  calculated  for 
the  reception  of  morbid  moral  influences  ] 

2.  What  are  the  causes  and  source  of  this  condition  1 

3.  What  are  the  circumstances  which  directly  excite 
and  foster  these  evil  tendencies  1 

4.  As  a  corollary  to  these,  —  What  are  the  moral  hy- 
gienic means  to  be  adopted  for  the  check  or  prevention 
of  such  epidemics  1 

Were  we  only  to  examine  the  phenomena  of  disordered 
action  in  man,  we  should  get  but  a  very  imperfect  idea 
of  his  psychological  condition  in  health  and  disease. 
The  mind  manifests  itself  by  thought,  word,  and  deed, 
and  its  disorders  are  shown  by  erroneous  ideas,  by  in- 
coherent discourse,  and  by  unreasonable  conduct.  These 
are  respectively  liable  to  become  epidemic,  as  in  opinion, 
expression,  and  crime ;  and  for  the  complete  compre- 
hension of  the  latter,  it  is  necessary  to  examine  instances 
of  the  other  two  forms.  We  shall  therefore  select  a  few 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  147 

cases  illustrative  of  each,  giving  the  preference  to  those 
which  have  been  marked  by  the  most  striking  psycho- 
logical phenomena,  or  which  have  produced  the  greatest 
effects  upon  the  social  and  political  condition  of  man  ; 
only  premising  that,  whilst  disordered  opinion  and  action 
have  a  much  stronger  tendency  to  assume  an  epidemic 
type  than  bodily  diseases,  their  elements  are  less  com- 
plex, and  consequently  more  susceptible  of  investiga- 
tion ;  a  position  apparently  paradoxical  and  fanciful,  yet 
one  which  we  believe  to  be  in  accordance  with  experi- 
ence, and  which  we  hope  to  illustrate  afterwards.  Many 
of  the  most  remarkable  epidemics,  however,  are  com- 
pound, being  complicated  with  physical  disorder  more  or 
less  evident ;  and  these  are  proportionately  more  com- 
plex as  to  their  elements,  and  present  more  difficulties 
to  the  inquirer,  than  either  form  taken  separately. 

Nations,  like  individuals,  have  their  periods  of  insan- 
ity, excitement,  delusion,  and  recklessness.  Mackay 
("  Popular  Delusions  ")  says  that  — 

"  Whole  communities  suddenly  fix  their  minds  upon 
one  object,  and  go  mad  in  its  pursuit ;  millions  of  people 
become  simultaneously  impressed  with  one  delusion. 
We  see  one  nation,  from  its  highest  to  its  lowest  mem- 
bers, with  a  fierce  desire  for  military  glory ;  another  as 
suddenly  becomes  crazed  upon  a  religious  scruple  ;  and 
neither  of  them  recovers  its  senses  until  it  has  shed 
rivers  of  blood,  and  sowed  a  harvest  of  groans  and  tears 
to  be  reaped  by  its  posterity." 

Pseudo-religion,  opinion  practical  or  speculative,  life, 
property,  emotion,  all  become  in  turn  the  subject  or  the 
motive  for  a  maniacal  epidemic.  These  collective  or 
imitative  tendencies  appeared  very  early  in  the  world's 
history.  According  to  Maimonides,  the  earth  had  not 
been  peopled  300  years  when  all  turned  with  one  accord 
to  idolatry.  Though  his  account  is  somewhat  fanciful, 


148  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

yet  it  affords  a  very  probable  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
class  of  delusions  which,  in  one  form  or  other,  have  kept 
possession  of  mankind  ever  since. 

"  In  those  days  the  sons  of  Adam  erred  with  great 
error,  and  the  counsel  of  the  wise  men  became  brutish  ; 
and  their  error  was  this  :  they  said,  *  Forasmuch  as  God 
hath  created  these  stars  and  spheres  to  govern  the  world, 
and  set  them  on  high,  it  is  meet  that  men  should  laud 
and  glorify  and  give  them  honor.'  When  this  thing  was 
come  up  into  their  hearts,  they  began  to  build  temples 
unto  the  stars,  and  to  offer  sacrifice  unto  them,  and  to 
worship  before  them ;  and  this  was  the  root  of  idolatry. 
And  after  this  they  began  to  make  images  of  the  stars, 
in  temples  and  under  trees,  and  assembled  together  ami 
worshipped  them.  And  this  thing  was  spread  through  all 
the  world ;  so  in  process  of  time  the  glorious  and  fearful 
Name  was  forgotten."  —  MAIM.  In  Mishn. 

Such  was  the  first  origin  of  idolatry  and  image-wor- 
ship. After  the  Flood  the  same  tendency  was  quickly 
manifested,  but  under  circumstances  which  indicated  a 
far  greater  moral  perversion  and  psychical  deterioration 
than  before  ;  for  this  second  falling  away  wras  especially 
amongst  a  chosen  people,  who  had  witnessed  repeated 
instances  of  power  which  they  knew  could  not  reside  in 
wood  and  stone.  "  These  be  thy  gods,  0  Israel,"  said 
one,  with  the  bitterest  irony,  "  which  brought  thee  up 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,"  pointing  to  the  golden  calf 
which  he  had  been  compelled  to  make.  How  severely 
were  they  satirized  by  their  own  prophets  !  Idolatry  had 
now  assumed  its  three  typical  forms,  —  the  worship  of 
imaginary  powers,  of  carved  images,  and  of  the  animate 
and  inanimate  objects  of  nature. 

"  I  went  in  iiml  anw  ;  and  behold  every  form  of  cmy  >///// 
M///7-S-  and  abominable  beasts,  and  all  the  idols  of  the  IIOHM 
of  Israel,  portrayed  upon  tJie  wall  round  about.  And 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  149 

there  stood  before  them  seventy  men  of  the  ancients  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  with  every  man  his  censer  in  his  Imnd  ;  and 
a  thick  cloud  of  incense  went  up.  And  he  brought  me  to 
the  gate  ;  and  behold  there  sat  women  weeping  for  T  AM  MUZ 
(probably  Adonis).  And  he  brought  me  to  the  inner  court ; 
and  behold  there  were  men  with  their  backs  to  the  temple, 
and  their  faces  toward  the  east,  and  they  worshipped  the 
sun." 

The  same  tendency  is  indicated  in  Isaiah's  withering 
sarcasm :  — 

"  He  plant eth  an  ash,  and  the  rain  doth  nourish  it. 
Then  shall  it  be  for  a  man  to  burn  ;  for  he  will  take  there- 
of and  warm  himself ;  yea,  he  kindleth  it  and  baketh 
bread  ;  yea,  he  maketh  a  god  and  ivorshippeth  it ;  he  maketh 
it  a  graven  image,  andfalleth  down  thereto.  He  burneth 
part  thereof  in  the  fire  ;  with  part  thereof  he  roasteth  roast, 
and  is  satisfied.  And  the  residue  thereof  he  maketh  a  god; 
hefalleth  down  and  worshippeth  it  and  pray  eth  unto  it,  and 
saith,  Deliver  me,  for  thou  art  my  god" 

And  to  these  imaginary  deities  they  sacrificed  their 
sons  and  their  daughters,  causing  them  to  pass  through 
the  fire.  The  epidemic  of  speculative  opinion,  followed 
naturally  by  actual  crime,  spread  over  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth  ;  and  in  this  general  falling  away  we  find 
all  the  elements  of  the  floods  of  crime  which  at  variable 
periods  since  then  have  wellnigh  submerged  the  moral 
world.  What  the  condition  of  the  earth  was  as  to  general 
morals  and  tendencies  just  before  the  Christian  era,  we 
may  indicate  by  selecting  the  most  refined  and  civilized 
of  the  cities,  Rome  ;  and  giving  the  impressions  of  their 
own  writers,  and  in  their  own  language,  for  the  vices 
alluded  to  are  too  gross  to  be  completely  unveiled  :  — 

"Cum  lono  accipiat  mcx'chi,  bona,  si  capicndi 
Jus  millum  uxori,  dootus  spec-tare  lacunar, 
Doctus  et  ad  calicem  vigilant!  stertere  naso  ; 
Cum  fas  esse  putet  curam  sperare  cohortis, 
Qui  bona  donavit  praesepibus —  " 


150  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

And  as  to  the  reward  of  merit,  and  the  mode  in  which 
public  trust  was  bestowed  :  — 

"  Aude  aliquid  brevibus  Gyaris  et  carcere  dignum, 

Si  vis  esse  aliquis;  probitus  Ituidatur,  ct  alget." 
*  #  #  *  # 

"  —  quando  uberior  vitiorum  copia?  quando 
Major  avaritia?  patuit  sinus?  " 

But  even  under  this  thin  veil  we  may  not  sully  our 
page  with  quotations  illustrative  of  the  special  and  uni- 
versal vices  of  this  vaunted  era. 

In  such  a  profligate  time  was  Christianity  introduced 
into  the  world  ;  and  for  once  at  least  in  the  world's  his- 
tory the  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  receive  opinions 
collectively  was  directed  in  a  right  channel.  Promulgated 
by  a  few  unlettered  men ;  opposed  with  all  the  violence 
of  a  corrupt  priesthood  and  a  pagan  court  upholding  doc- 
trines which  human  nature  felt  to  be  humiliating ;  per- 
secuted even  to  the  death,  —  Christianity  triumphed, 
and  became  the  religion  of  the  civilized  world.  But  it 
was  not  for  long  that  its  purity  was  preserved  ;  errors 
and  heresies  crept  in  ;  and  the  doctrines  which  preached 
peace  on  earth  and  good-will  towards  men  were  made  the 
pretext  for  passions  the  fiercest,  persecutions  the  most 
diabolical,  and  wars  the  most  sanguinary,  that  the  earth 
has  ever  witnessed.  There  is  no  wrath  and  bitterness 
equal  to  that  which  arises  in  (so-called)  religious  contro- 
versy. Each  opinion  once  promulgated  spread  like  an 
epidemic,  and  parties  were  found  to  murder  each  other 
in  support  of  their  respective  views,  with  the  more  zeal 
and  implacability,  the  more  incomprehensible  and  less 
important  was  the  subject  of  dispute.  Ultimately  the 
Christian  and  the  heathen  could  live  without  mutual 
persecution  ;  but  the  Monothclite  and  the  Monophysite, 
the  Pelagian  and  the  Arian,  ever  viewed  each  other  with 
the  most  uncompromising  hostility. 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.  151 

It  would  require  a  large  volume  even  to  mention  the 
names  of  the  controversies  which  for  centuries  shook  the 
church,  even  to  its  foundations ;  we  can  but  briefly  allude 
to  a  few  events,  remarkable  for  their  psychical  character- 
istics, their  rapid  spread,  or  their  bearing  upon  epidemics 
of  later  times. 

The  Gnostics  of  the  second  century  originated  from 
the  attempt  to  combine  the  philosophy  of  the  heathen 
world  with  the  faith  of  the  Christian.  This,  as  well  as 
the  sect  of  the  Manicheans,  which  arose  in  the  third 
century,  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  incredible  rapid- 
ity with  which  it  spread,  and  for  its  persistency  in  spite 
of  the  severest  methods  used  for  its  extirpation. 

The  fourth  century  is  remarkable  for  the  rapid  increase 
of  superstition,  the  reinstitution  of  image-worship,  the 
adoration  paid  to  relics,  and  the  many  pious  frauds,  as 
they  have  been  termed,  of  the  monks.  At  this  time,  too, 
originated  that  remarkable  and  long-standing  epidemic, 
which  has  ever  since  exercised  so  powerful  an  influence 
over  domestic  relations  and  the  world  generally,  —  that 
of  Monachism.  Owing  to  the  prevalence  of  a  certain 
mystical  preaching,  vast  numbers  of  men  and  women 
withdrew  themselves  from  all  society,  endeavoring  to  live 
by  contemplation  alone,  and  mortifying  the  body  by 
hunger,  thirst,  and  labor.  They  were  gradually  reduced 
to  system  by  Antony,  who  prescribed  rules  for  their  con- 
duct. Some,  as  the  Anachorites,  resisted  all  rule,  lived 
separately,  frequented  the  wildest  deserts,  fed  upon  roots, 
and  slept  wherever  the  night  overtook  them ;  and  all 
this  to  avoid  the  sight  of  their  fellow-creatures.  Other 
sects,  as  the  Sarabaites,  were  guilty  of  the  most  licen- 
tious practices,  and  were  indeed  profligates  of  the  most 
abandoned  kind.8 

The  fifth  century  produced  one  of  the  most  extraordi- 
nary and  ridiculous  manias  that  can  well  be  conceived. 


152  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

Simeon,  a  monk,  adopted,  as  a  mark  of  especial  sanctity, 
the  singular  device  of  spending  thirty-seven  years  of  his 
life  on  the  top  of  a  high  pillar. 

"Seduced  by  &  false  ambition,  and  utterly  ignorant  of 
true  religion,  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Syria  and 
Palestine  followed  the  example  of  this  fanatic  ;  and  what 
is  almost  incredible,  this  practice  continued  in  vogue  till 
the  twelfth  century."4 

The  rise  and  fall  of  Mahometanism,  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  the  rapid 
propagation  of  ideas  and  principles.  Doubtless  the  ter- 
ror of  Mahomet's  arms,  and  his  repeated  victories,  were 
very  irresistible  arguments  ;  but  at  the  same  time  his 
law  was  wonderfully  adapted  to  the  corrupt  nature  of 
man  ;  its  requirements  were  few  and  easy,  its  articles  of 
faith  simple,  and  its  promised  rewards  marvellously 
acceptable  to  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Eastern 
nations,  and  their  favorite  vices.  "It  is  to  be  observed," 
says  Mosheim,  "  further,  that  the  gross  ignorance  under 
which  the  Arabians,  Syrians,  and  Persians,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  Eastern  nations,  labored  at  this  time, 
rendered  many  an  easy  prey  to  the  artifice  and  eloquence 
of  this  bold  adventurer."  When  we  add  to  this  the  dis- 
sensions and  animosities  amongst  the  Greeks,  Nestorians, 
and  others,  which  filled  the  East  with  carnage,  assassina- 
tions, and  other  enormities,  such  as  made  the  very  name 
of  Christianity  detestable,  we  may  cease  to  wonder 
at  the  spread  of  any  new  religion.  Will  not  an  attentive 
consideration  of  these  reasons  in  the  aggregate  suggest 
to  the  reflective  mind  the  source  of  some  of  the  remark- 
able heresies  of  the  present  day,  HS  our  Mormonism  and 
Socialism,  our  Spirit-Rapping,  and  the  German  Apostol- 
ico-Baptism  ]  —  The  epidemic  of  the  eighth  century  was 
a  violent  contest,  which  overspread  the  whole  Christian 
world,  between  the  Iconoduli  and  the  Iconolastse,  con- 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  153 

cerning  image-worship,  as  their  names  imply.  The 
ninth  century  presents  us  to  the  origin  of  the  trials  of 
innocence,  which  for  ages  continued  so  popular,  —  by 
water,  by  single  combat,  by  the  fire-ordeal,  and  by  the 
cross. 

The  first  is  of  great  interest,  as  being  afterwards  so 
universally  made  use  of,  in  the  detection  of  supposed 
witches.  The  person  suspected  of  any  crime  was  thrown 
into  water,  the  right  hand  bound  to  the  left  foot  :  if  he 
sank,  he  was  esteemed  innocent ;  if  he  floated,  it  was 
evidence  of  guilt.  In  the  trial  by  duel,  the  survivor  was 
considered  to  have  proved  his  innocence.  In  the  fire- 
ordeal,  the  accused  person  walked  barefoot  on  heated 
ploughshares,  or  held  a  ball  of  red-hot  iron  in  his  hand  ; 
if  innocent,  these  feats  would  be  accomplished  without 
injury.  In  the  last  form  of  trial,  that  by  the  cross,  the 
contending  parties  were  made  to  stretch  out  their  arms, 
and  he  that  could  continue  in  this  posture  the  longest 
gained  his  cause.  A  different  account  of  the  test  of  the 
cross  is  given  by  many  writers,  but  this  appears  to  have 
been  the  original  one.  The  universal  belief  in  the  in- 
fallibility of  these  tests  is  not  the  least  singular  feature 
in  the  mental  aspect  of  these  ages. 

In  the  tenth  century  a  strange  panic  seized  upon 
men's  minds,  and  produced  the  most  disastrous  effects. 
They  conceived  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  close  at 
hand,  and  vast  multitudes  forsook  all  their  civil  and 
domestic  ties,  gave  their  property  to  the  Church,  and 
repaired  to  Palestine,  where  they  imagined  they  should 
be  safer  than  elsewhere.  An  eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon 
was  considered  as  the  immediate  precursor  of  the  end  of 
all  things  ;  the  cities  were  forsaken,  and  the  wretched 
inhabitants  did  actually  hide  themselves  in  caves  and 
rocks.  Others  attempted  to  bribe  the  Deity,  by  great  gifts 
to  the  Church  ;  others  pulled  down  palaces  and  temples, 
7* 


154  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

saying  that  they  were  of  no  more  use.  "  In  a  word, 
no  language  is  sufficient  to  express  the  confusion  and 
despair  that  tormented  the  minds  of  miserable  mortals 
on  this  occasion." 

Consequent  upon  this  was  perhaps  the  most  extraor- 
dinary epidemic  into  which  fanaticism  ever  ran.  We 
have  said  that  vast  multitudes  left  their  homes  to  go  to 
the  Holy  Land  :  not  a  meteor  fell  across  the  sky,  but 
sent  whole  hordes  on  the  same  delusive  errand.  The 
hardships  they  suffered  on  the  way  were  almost  incredi- 
ble ;  yet  they  were  exceeded  by  those  experienced  from 
the  Turks  when  they  reached  their  destination.  Perse- 
cution of  every  kind  awaited  them  ;  they  were  plundered 
and  beaten,  and  not  allowed  in  most  instances  to 
enter  Jerusalem.  By  degrees,  this  particular  epidemic 
dread  began  to  subside,  and  some  of  these  pilgrims  re- 
turned to  Europe  full  of  the  indignities  which  they  had 
received.  Amongst  them  was  an  enthusiastic  and  elo- 
quent, perhaps  half-crazy  monk,  Peter  the  Hermit,  who, 
on  his  return,  convulsed  Europe  by  his  preaching  and  his 
story  of  their  wrongs.  Then  resulted  a  scene  such  as 
the  world  had  never  witnessed.  In  the  insane  idea  of 
wresting  Palestine  from  the  Turks,  countless  myriads 
of  fanatics  left  their  homes,  and  traversed  Europe  under 
circumstances  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  man.  Why 
should  we  dwell  upon  the  details  of  the  Crusades  1 
Hundreds  of  thousands  perished  on  the  way  ;  the  roads 
and  fields  were  heaped  up  with  corpses ;  the  rivers  were 
dyed  for  miles  with  their  blood.  Yet  again  and  n-ain 
schemes  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  same  purpose 
were  adopted ;  now  the  elements  were  the  lowest  and 
vilest  of  the  people,  —  now  the  flower  of  Europe's  chiv- 
alry, —  and  again  thousands  of  children  formed  a  sep- 
arate crusade  of  their  own.  Millions  of  treasure  were  ex- 
pended, and  two  millions  of  lives  sacrificed,  in  the  two 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  155 

hundred  years  during  which  this  disastrous  moral  epi- 
demic prevailed.  And  this  ended  !  —  the  philanthropist 
would  fain  hope  that  such  a  fearful  convulsion  would 
not  pass  without  some  purification  of  the  atmosphere. 

Scarcely  had  the  excitement  of  Europe  subsided  when 
another  scourge  made  its  appearance.  The  great  Plague, 
or  Black  Death,  of  the  fourteenth  century,  appeared  in 
1333  in  China,  and  passing  over  Asia  westward,  and  over 
Europe  and  Africa,  carried  off  about  one  fourth  of  the 
people.  In  Europe  alone  it  is  supposed  that  twenty-five 
millions  fell  victims  to  this  fearful  pestilence. 

All  epidemic  diseases  have  their  moral  aspect ;  and 
this  one  was  attended  by  a  constellation  of  fanaticisms 
and  delusions  such  as  man  has  never  witnessed  before 
or  since.  The  belief  in  witchcraft  was  already  very  prev- 
alent, and  there  had  been  some  isolated  persecutions 
directed  towards  it.  But  the  specific  moral  aberrations 
connected  with  this  period  were  :  — 

1.  The  rise  and  spread  of  the  Flagellants,  or  Whip- 
pers. 

2.  The   wholesale  murder  of  the   Jews,  on   the  sus- 
picion of  having  poisoned  the  -water. 

3.  The  dancing  mania. 

The  compound  aspect  of  these  three  has  more  than 
an  ordinary  interest  to  the  philosophic  mind,  arising 
from  the  fact,  that  although  the  first  two  appear  to  be 
of  a  strictly  psychical  nature,  a  somatic  origin  is  indi- 
cated, from  their  extremely  close  connection  with  the  lat- 
ter, which  was  accompanied  by  the  most  striking  and 
uniform  physical  derangements,  very  analogous  to  the 
phenomena  of  hysteria.  The  sect  of  the  dancers,  in- 
deed, seems  to  serve  as  a  connecting  link  between 
mental  and  bodily  affections,  and  to  lead  by  a  natural 
transition  to  many  of  the  convulsive  forms  of  religious 
\vorship  with  which  the  present  century  is  familiar,  as 


156  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

the   Jumpers,   the    Shakers,  the    preaching   maim    in 
Sweden  in  1842,  &c. 

The  primary  notion  of  the  "  Whippers  "  may  be 
traced  to  the  fact,  that  for  ages  flagellation  had  been 
considered  by  the  Church  the  most  appropriate  punish- 
ment and  atonement  for  vice.  Horrified  by  the  ravages 
of  the  plague,  in  deadly  terror  of  its  advances,  the 
people  thought  to  stop  the  vengeance  (as  it  was  sup- 
posed) of  Heaven  by  mortifications  and  penance.  Al- 
most simultaneously,  in  many  parts  of  Hungary  and 
Germany,  large  masses  of  the  lowest  orders  of  the 
people  formed  themselves  into  bodies  which  marched  in 
procession  through  the  cities,  robed  in  sombre  ap- 
parel, covered  with  red  crosses,  bearing  triple  knotted 
scourges,  in  which  points  of  iron  were  fixed. 

"  It  was  not  merely  some  individual  parts  of  the 
country  which  fostered  them  ;  all  Germany,  Hungary, 
Poland,  Bohemia,  Silesia,  and  Flanders  did  homage  to 
the  mania.  The  influence  of  this  fanaticism  was  great 
and  threatening ;  resembling  the  excitement  which 
called  all  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  into  the  deserts  of 
Syria  and  Palestine  250  years  before."  —  HECKER. 

They  performed  penance  twice  a  day,  scourging  them- 
selves and  each  other  till  the  blood  streamed  from  them ; 
and  this  they  blasphemously  said  was  mixed  with  the 
blood  of  the  Saviour.  Flagellation  was  held  to  be  supe- 
rior to,  and  to  supersede,  all  other  observances;  the 
priests  were  forsaken,  and  these  "  Brethren  of  the 
Cross  "  absolved  each  other,  and  took  possession  of  the 
churches,  where  their  enthusiastic  songs  affected  greatly 
the  minds  of  the  people. 

As  might  be  expected,  all  this  speedily  resolved  itself 
into  licentiousness  and  crime.  The  Church  and  the 
secular  arm  combined  to  put  a  stop  to  this  universal 
frenzy  ;  veneration  turned,  in  many  places,  into  persecu- 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  157 

tion,  and  public  burnings  of  the  chief  instigators  of  the 
riots  became  common.  During  this  and  the  early  part 
of  the  next  century  a  constant  contest  was  carried  on 
with  them,  but  the  sect  was  found  most  difficult  to 
eradicate. 

Simultaneously  with  these  proceedings  was  insti- 
tuted a  bloody  and  barbarous  persecution  of  the  Jews. 
Amongst  the  other  absurd  conjectures  as  to  the  source 
of  the  terrible  pestilence  which  was  everywhere  raging, 
the  Jews  were  supposed  to  have  poisoned  the  wells  or 
infected  the  air.  They  were  pursued  with  relentless 
cruelty,  —  tortured,  in  many  instances,  into  a  confession 
of  crimes  which  had  never  been  committed,  and  then 
burnt  alive. 

"  Whenever  they  were  not  burnt,  they  were  at  least 
banished  ;  and  so,  being  compelled  to  wander  about, 
they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  country  people,  who, 
without  humanity,  persecuted  them  with  fire  and 
sword."  —  HECKER'S  Epidemics. 

In  some  places,  driven  to  desperation,  the  Jews  fired 
their  own  quarter  of  the  town,  and  so  perished.  At 
Strasburg,  2,000  were  burnt  alive  in  their  own  burial- 
ground.  In  Mayence,  it  is  supposed  that  12,000  Jews 
were  slaughtered  by  the  Flagellants. 

"At  Eslingen,  the  whole  Jewish  community  burned 
themselves  in  their  synagogue  ;  and  mothers  were  seen 
throwing  their  own  children  on  the  pile,  to  prevent  their 
being  baptized,  and  then  precipitating  themselves  into 
the  flames."  —  HECKER. 

A  singular  feature  presents  itself  in  the  progress  of 
this  epidemic  persecution,  as  in  that  of  witches,  to  be 
shortly  noticed,  viz.  that,  after  the  rage  had  lasted 
some  time,  many  confessed  voluntarily,  and  without 
torture,  to  the  crimes  of  which  their  countrymen  were 
accused ;  and  it  even  appears  probable  that  some  actually 


158  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

attempted  to  commit  them  by  putting  certain  poisons 
into  the  waters.  Apparently  an  irresistible  impulse 
leads  to  acts  of  this  nature,  from  the  constant  dwelling 
of  the  mind  upon  the  accusations  and  reports  on  the 
subject.  We  meet  with  analogous  instances  in  all  epi- 
demics of  crime,  and  it  is  not  unfrequent  to  meet  with 
those  who,  from  a  morbid  desire  for  notoriety,  will  insist 
upon  confessing  crimes  which  have  evidently  not  been 
perpetrated,  such  as  the  murder  of  people  still  living. 

The  humanity  and  good  sense  of  Clement  VI.  at  last 
succeeded  in  putting  a  stop  to  this  wholesale  butchery  ; 
but  it  was  not  till  after  scores  of  thousands  had  fallen 
victims  to  the  insane  and  cruel  delusion. 

The  Dancing  Mania  next  claims  attention.  In  his 
preface  to  an  account  of  this  affection,  Hecker  makes 
some  interesting  reflections,  which  we  here  quote  :  — 

"  These  diseases  afford  a  deep  insight  into  the  workings 
of  the  human  mind  in  a  state  of  society ;  they  expose  a 
vulnerable  part  of  man,  —  the  instinct  of  imitation,  — 
and  are  therefore  very  nearly  connected  with  human  life 
in  the  aggregate.  It  appeared  worth  while  to  describe 
diseases  which  are  propagated  on  the  beams  of  light,  on 
the  wings  of  thought,  which  convulse  the  mind  by  the 
excitement  of  the  senses,  and  wonderfully  affect  the 
nerves,  the  media  of  its  will  and  feelings.  It  seemed 
worth  while  to  attempt  to  place  these  disorders  between 
the  epidemics  of  a  less  refined  origin,  which  affect  the 
body  more  than  the  soul,  and  all  those  passions  and 
emotions  which  border  on  the  vast  domain  of  disuse, 
ready  at  every  moment  to  pass  the  boundary." 

About  1374,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  singular  spectacle 
was  presented  of  groups  of  men  and  women  who  would 
join  hands,  forming  a  circle,  and  dance  for  hours  to- 
gether in  wild  delirium,  till  they  fell  to  the  ground  utterly 
exhausted. 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  159 

"  They  then,"  says  Hecker,  "  complained  of  extreme 
oppression,  and  groaned  as  if  in  the  agonies  of  death, 
until  they  were  swathed  in  cloths  bound  tightly  round 
their  waists,  —  a  practice  resorted  to  on  account  of  the 
tympany  which  followed  these  spasmodic  ravings ;  but 
the  bystanders  frequently  relieved  patients  in  a  less  arti- 
ficial manner,  by  thumping  and  trampling  upon  the  parts 
affected." 

It  seems  that  in  this  and  the  analogous  affections,  — 
the  preaching  mania  in  Sweden,  the  convulsive  disorders 
in  Shetland,  and  the  convulsionnaires  in  France,  —  the 
most  brutally  violent  means  were  adopted  for  the  removal 
of  this  tympany,  not  only  without  pain  to  the  sufferer, 
but  with  actually  temporary  relief.  Referring  to  this  last 
class,  M.  Littre  says  :  — 

"  Ni  les  distensions  ou  les  pressions  a  1'aide  d'hommes 
vigoureux,  ni  les  supplices  de  1'estrapade,  ni  les  coups 
portes  avec  des  barres  ou  des  instruments  lourds  et  con- 
tondans,  n'etaient  capables  de  leser,  de  meurtrir,  d'estro- 
pier  les  victimes  volontaires." 

Many  called  out  for  heavy  weights  to  be  thrown  upon 
them,  and  for  the  blows  to  be  administered  with  more 
force  upon  the  abdomen.  A  stone  about  thirty  pounds 
in  weight,  called  a  pebble,  was  in  frequent  use  for  this 
purpose. 

This  dancing  mania  rapidly  spread  over  the  Nether- 
lands, which  were  overrun  with  troops  of  half-naked 
dancers. 

"  At  length  the  increasing  number  of  the  affected 
attracted  no  less  anxiety  than  the  attention  that  was  paid 
to  them.  They  took  possession  of  the  religious  houses, 
processions  were  instituted,  masses  were  said  for  them, 
and  the  disease  —  of  the  demoniac  origin  of  which  no 
one  entertained  the  least  doubt  —  excited  everywhere 
astonishment  and  horror.  They  were  much  irritated  at 


160  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

the  sight  of  red  colors,  the  influence  of  which  on  the 
disordered  nerves  might  lead  us  to  imagine  an  extraordi- 
nary accordance  between  this  spasmodic  malady  and  the 
condition  of  infuriated  animals."  —  HECKER,  p.  89. 

In  this,  as  in  all  other  epidemics,  opportunity  was 
found  for  the  wildest  licentiousness  ;  gross  impostures 
mixed  with  the  real  disease,  and  ultimately  the  result- 
ant vices  excited  the  indignation  of  clergy  and  laity, 
who  united  to  put  a  stop  to  the  disorders.  Meantime, 
the  plague  crept  on,  and  found  abundant  food  in  the 
tone  of  thought  which  prevailed  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  causing  a  permanent  disorder  of  the 
mind,  and  exhibiting,  in  those  cities  to  whose  inhabitants 
it  was  a  novelty,  scenes  as  strange  as  they  were  detest- 
able. 

Nothing  aifords  a  more  striking  illustration  of  the 
tendency  which  opinion,  emotion,  and  action  have  to 
assume  a  collective  aspect,  than  the  subject  of  WITCH- 
CRAFT, whether  considered  as  to  its  millions  of  votaries, 
its  tens  of  thousands  of  persecutors,  its  myriads  of  vic- 
tims, or  the  curious  psychological  phenomena  developed 
by  the  mutual  reactions  of  these.  Mackay  (op.  cit.) 
writes  thus:  — 

"  Europe  for  two  centuries  and  a  half  brooded  upon 
the  idea,  not  only  that  parted  spirits  walked  the  earth 
to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of  men,  but  that  men  had  pow- 
er to  summon  evil  spirits  to  their  aid  to  work  woe  upon 
their  fellows.  An  epidemic  terror  seized  upon  the  na- 
tions ;  no  man  thought  himself  secure,  either  in  his  per- 
son or  his  possessions,  from  the  machinations  of  the  Devil 
and  his  agents.  Every  calamity  that  befell  him  he  at- 
tributed to  a  witch.  France,  Italy,  Germany,  England, 
Scotland,  and  the  far  North,  successively  ran  mad  upon 
this  subject,  —  thousands  upon  thousands  of  unhappy 
persons  fell  victims  to  this  cruel  and  absurd  delusion." 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.          161 

The  summary  of  belief  was  something  to  this  effect. 
At  the  command  of  any  one  who  would  sell  his  soul,  in 
exchange  for  certain  services  during  a  stated  period, 
there  were  innumerable  demons,  —  Wierus  says  only 
7,405,926, — incubi  and  succubi,  that  is,  male  and  fe- 
male, taking  on  various  forms,  according  to  the  circum- 
stances required,  —  but  if  human,  always  imperfect  in 
some  respect. 

They  were  bound  to  obey  any  order,  except  to  do 
good,  in  which  case  they  disobeyed,  and  visited  their 
displeasure  upon  the  offender.  At  uncertain  intervals, 
—  generally  on  the  Friday  night,  —  there  were  meetings, 
called  the  "  Sabbath,"  at  which  those  who  in  the  inter- 
vals had  done  sufficient  evil  were  rewarded ;  and  those 
who  had  not,  received  chastisement  from  Satan  himself, 
who  flogged  them  till  they  could  neither  sit  nor  stand. 
New-comers  were  admitted  by  the  ceremony  of  denying 
their  salvation,  spitting  upon  the  Bible,  and  vowing  obe- 
dience to  "the  master."  Their  amusement  on  these 
occasions  was  a  dance  of  toads,  —  their  banquet,  things 
too  disgusting  to  mention.  A  general  examination  was 
made  to  know  if  each  possessed  "  the  mark,"  by  which 
they  were  recognized  as  the  "  Devil's  own."  This  mark 
was  insensible  to  pain.  Those  who  had  it  not,  then  re- 
ceived it.  When  the  cock  crew,  the  Sabbath  ended,  and* 
all  disappeared. 

The  persecutions  on  account  of  witchcraft  were  car- 
ried on  from  various  motives,  —  political,  as  in  the  ex- 
termination of  the  Stedinger  in  1234  by  Frederick  II., 
assisted  by  the  Duke  of  Brabant  and  others  ;  and  in  that 
of  the  Templars,  accused  of  sorcery  by  Philip  IV.  of 
France  and  burned ;  religious,  as  in  the  persecutions  of 
the  Waldenses  under  this  pretext ;  and  superstitious,  as 
in  the  innumerable  trials  for  witchcraft  with  which  the 
Middle  Ages  abound.  It  is  computed  that  during  the 


162  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

prevalence  of  this  epidemic,  at  least  one  hundred  thou- 
sand persons  were  burned  as  witches  or  sorcerers. 

Illustrative  of  the  strange  psychological  phenomena 
manifested  in  the  votaries  of  this  belief,  and  their  collec- 
tive character,  we  quote  some  facts  and  observations  from 
a  profoundly  philosophic  article  in  the  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes  for  February  15,  185G,  by  M.  Littre.  It  will 
save  repetition  to  remark,  first,  that  there  is  a  singular 
uniformity  in  the  confessions  of  those  accused ;  second, 
that  although  many  confessions  were  elicited  by  torture, 
and  many  made  through  dread  of  torture,  yet,  due  allow- 
ance made  for  all  these,  there  remained  many  who  con- 
fessed voluntarily,  and  manifested  pride  in  their  supposed 
powers ;  speaking  with  delight  of  their  enjoyments  at 
"  the  Sabbath,"  and  longing  to  be  burned,  that  they 
might  constantly  enjoy  "  the  master's  society." 

Under  the  pontificate  of  Julius  II.  many  thousands 
of  persons  were  burnt,  who  confessed  freely  that  in  the 
form  of  cats  they  were  in  the  constant  habit  of  destroy- 
ing children.  The  witch  mania  may  be  considered  to 
have  first  fairly  set  in  in  1488,  when  Pope  Innocent 
VIII.  launched  his  terrible  manifesto  against  them.  In 
this  celebrated  bull  he  called  upon  all  the  princes  of  Eu- 
rope to  assist  in  extirpating  this  crime,  by  means  of 
^vhich  all  manner  of  wickedness  was  wrought.  He  also 
appointed  inquisitors  in  every  country,  armed  with  little 
less  than  apostolic  power,  to  try  and  punish  the  accused. 
Naturally  this  crusade  against  a  supposed  crime  propa- 
gated it,  and  wonderfully  deepened  the  belief  in  the 
minds  of  the  people.  M.  Littre  on  this  makes  the  fol- 
lowing striking  observations  :  — 

"  In  this  fact,  for  which  during  many  years  the  pile 
was  constantly  erected,  we  remark  at  first  one  promi- 
nent phenomenon,  i.  e.  its  collective  character.  All  the 
sorcerers  say  that  they  were  changed  into  cats,  and  this 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  163 

in  spite  of  the  punishment  which  awaits  them  ;  they  ac- 
cuse themselves  of  homicides  without  number.  In  con- 
firmation, the  mothers  notice  spots  of  blood  on  the  dead 
children,  the  fathers  speak  of  strangely  pertinacious  cats 
about  the  house.  To  all  this  tragedy,  so  well  attested 
on  all  parts,  — sealed  by  confession,  certified  by  solemn 
inquisition, — there  fails  but  one  thing:  in  spite  of  the 
assassinations  of  so  many  children,  the  mortality  is  not  in- 
creased, nor  the  district  depopulated." 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  nuns  of  a  certain  con- 
vent were  all  seized  with  a  kind  of  hysterical  affection. 
Naturally  they  were  bewitched,  and  victims  had  to  be 
burned  before  they  were  cured. 

In  Lorraine,  from  1580  to  1595,  about  nine  hundred 
persons  were  burnt  on  this  pretext.  They  all  saw  the 
Devil  near  them,  even  whilst  the  torture  was  being  in- 
flicted, endeavoring,  in  his  way,  to  comfort  them.  In 
Labourd,  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  centu- 
ry, the  confessions  of  the  accused  are  still  more  remark- 
able :  — 

"  La  plupart  parlaient  avec  une  expression  passionnee 
des  sensations  eprouvees  au  Sabbat ;  ils  peignaient  en 
termes  licencieux  leur  enivrement ;  beaucoup  declaraient 
etre  presentement  trop  bien  habitues  a  la  societe  du 
diable  pour  redouter  les  tourments  d'enfer ;  souffrant  fort 
joyeusement  qu'on  leur  fit  leur  proces,  tant  elles  avaient 
hate  d'etre  avec  le  diable;  elles  s'impatientaient  de 
temoigner  combien  elles  desiraient  souffrir  pour  lui,  et 
elles  trouvaient  fort  etrange  qu'une  chose  si  agreable  fut 
puni." 

It  is  unnecessary  further  to  multiply  instances  ;  we 
have  said  enough  to  illustrate  the  eminently  collective 
character  of  these  phenomena,  —  "  seizing  upon  great 
numbers  simultaneously,  and  subjugating  them  to  the 
same  class  of  sensations  and  actions,  finally  passing  away, 


164  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

and  leaving  no  trace,  save  the  remembrance  of  their  sin- 
gularity and  the  difficulty  of  theorizing  upon  them." 
The  rapidity  with  which  all  traces  of  these  delusions 
vanished,  after  a  crisis  had  once  occurred,  is  a  constant 
and  remarkable  feature.  It  might  almost  be  said  that, 
after  two  centuries  of  delusions,  the  people  went  to  rest 
mad,  and  awoke  in  a  few  hours  sane,  to  wonder  what 
had  been  the  clamor. 

We  can  scarcely  persuade  ourselves  that  some  of  the 
so-designated  "  spiritual  "  manifestations  of  our  own 
times  are  less  absurd  or  dangerous  than  those  just  quoted. 
In  concluding  this  branch  of  the  subject,  one  or  two  gen- 
eral observations  suggest  themselves,  which  are  both  of 
speculative  and  practical  interest. 

1.  The  immense  number  of  convictions  and  executions 
for  witchcraft  are  easily  accounted  for,  when  we  consider 
the  rules  and  tests  for  the  detection  of  the  supposed 
crime.     These,  it  is  well  known,  were  so  devised  as  to 
reflect  no  discredit  on  the  accuser  in  case  of  failure,  but 
to  admit  no  loophole  of  escape  for  the  accused. 

2.  In  addition  to  the  surprising  uniformity  of  the  con- 
fessions, there  is  another  evidence  of  the  strength  and 
persistency  of  the  delusion.     When  the  mania  for  witch- 
extermination  had  begun  to  subside,  and  men  were  more 
anxious  to  acquit  than  condemn,  there  were  found  num- 
bers who  voluntarily  accused  themselves  of  crimes  evi- 
dently not  committed,  as  of  the  murder  of  people  still 
living,  and  of  having  attended  at  the  "  Sabbath  "  during 
nights  when  the   strictest  watch   had  been  kept   upon 
them,  and  it  was  evident  they  had  never  quitted  their 
room. 

3  (and  lastly).  The  most  remarkable  consideration  of 
all  is  this,  —  and  it  shows  forcibly  the  inconsequence  of 
the  whole  business  :  these  people,  who  could  raise  tem- 
pests, who  partook  of  the  power  of  the  Prince  of  Dark- 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.  165 

ness,  who  could  work  their  will  amongst  the  elements,  — 
they  had  neither  riches  nor  power  nor  grandeur  ;  they, 
who  could  change  their  form  at  pleasure,  could  ride 
through  the  air,  and  pass  through  keyholes  and  crevices, 
and  up  chimneys  at  will,  —  these  very  people  could  not 
preserve  themselves  from  a  painful  and  ignominious 
death  ! 

The  epidemics  of  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  and  eigh- 
teenth centuries  we  can  but  name  in  passing.  The  six- 
teenth was  eminently  reformatative,  and  never,  not  even 
in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  did  polemic  rage 
burn  more  hotly  than  during  this  period  :  the  specific 
fanaticism  was  that  of  the  Anabaptists,  who,  under  the 
pretext  of  zeal,  kept  Europe  in  an  uproar. 

The  seventeenth  century  in  England  and  the  eigh- 
teenth in  France  present  striking  analogies  to  each  other 
in  their  broad  features  of  resistance  to  authority.  In 
each  case  the  entire  national  mind,  in  all  its  manifesta- 
tions, thought,  expression,  emotion,  and  action,  was  dis- 
turbed to  the  very  foundation.  In  each  there  was  a 
period  of  luxuriant  literature,  followed  by  deep  thought 
amongst  the  masses.  In  each,  prolonged  thought  ex- 
cited emotion ;  and  this  in  its  turn  produced  action,  re- 
action, violence,  anarchy,  despotism.  In  each  case,  after 
peace  was  restored,  there  was  another  phase  of  literature, 
remarkable  for  its  immorality.5  The  eighteenth  century 
also  produced  two  of  the  most  frantic  commercial  manias 
that  the  world  has  ever  witnessed,  —  in  France,  Law's 
Bank  and  Mississippi  scheme  ;  in  England,  the  South 
Sea  scheme.  It  is  impossible  even  to  glance  at  the 
nature  of  these  projects,  or  to  describe  the  excitement 
caused  by  their  rise  and  progress,  the  desperation  and 
ruin  consequent  upon  their  failure.  They  were  instituted 
in  the  same  year,  —  the  two  nations  went  mad  simul- 
taneously ;  and  in  the  same  year  (1721)  both  broke  down, 


166  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

reducing  thousands  of  families  to  beggary.  Each  gave 
rise  to  innumerable  other  bubbles,  none  of  which  were 
too  absurd  to  be  adopted.  At  one  time,  eighty-six  of 
these  undertakings  were  declared  illegal  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  abolished  accordingly. 
No.  1 7  in  this  list  will  serve  as  a  fair  sample  of  the  cre- 
dulity of  the  period.  It  was  entitled  "  A  company  for 
carrying  on  an  undertaking  of  great  advantage,  but  nobody 
to  know  what  it  is  !  "  The  projector  of  this  cleared  £2,000 
in  five  hours,  and  decamped. 

When  remarking  upon  the  mental  aberrations  of  our 
own  century,  the  nineteenth,  M.  Emile  Montegut  ob- 
serves :  — 

"  Us  n'ont  plus  le  fanatisme  revolutionnaire  de  leurs 
peres,  et  ce  n'est  pas  eux  qui  demanderaient,  a  etrangler 
le  dernier  roi  avec  les  entrailles  du  dernier  pretre  !  " 

True,  —  and  fortunate  as  true,  —  our  tendencies  are 
not  so  rabid ;  yet  we  take  our  part  bravely  in  the  insani- 
ties of  our  race.  There  are  few  of  the  manias  which  have 
been  already  noticed  that  have  not  their  representatives 
in  the  present  age.  Penance,  mortifications,  and  dan- 
cing, —  panic-terror,  witchcraft,  and  commercial  specula- 
tion run  wild,  —  a  revolutionary  madness  pervading  an 
entire  continent,  —  we  seem  to  be  taking  a  resume  of  the 
world's  follies  and  crimes.  But  one  morbid  tendency 
stands  out  in  bold  relief  from  the  rest,  —  that  of  spirit- 
ualistic fanaticism,  as  set  forth  by  Junipers,  Shakers, 
Apostle-baptists,  Socialists,  Mormons,  Spirit-rappers,  and 
a  crowd  of  other  sects,  each  claiming  exclusive  possession 
of  the  truth.  Each  one  might  well  require  a  volume  to 
relate  their  history  and  doings.  We  will  but  briefly  no- 
tice two,  which  are  remarkable  for  the  strange  social  and 
civil  effects  produced  by  them  upon  our  transatlantic 
brethren. 

Joseph  Smith,  the  inventor  of  Mormonism,  which  has 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  167 

now  its  tens  of  thousands  of  votaries  encamped  in  the 
valley  of  the  Salt  Lake,  was  a  man  from  amongst  the 
lowest  of  the  people.  His  character  is  naively  described 
by  M.  Montegut  as  not  possessing  precisely  the  innocence 
of  a  virgin.  According  to  the  same  authority,  he  was 
of  licentious  manners,  an  audacious  liar,  a  bankrupt,  an 
adulterer,  a  murderer.  The  following  passage  would 
lose  by  translation,  and  affords  matter  for  profound 
thought : — 

"  Eh  quoi !  peut  dire  un  sceptique,  voila  un  homme 
notoirement  connu  pour  le  dernier  des  mecreans  et  des 
coquins  ;  un  homme  d'une  education  vicieuse,  d'une  intel- 
ligence mediocre,  d'une  ame  rapace,  et  grossierement  sen- 
suelle ;  un  homme  qui  se  recommande  simplement  par  un 
appetit  solide,  un  front  d'airain,  des  doigts  crochus  et 
agiles  :  cet  homme  reussit,  non  pas  a  voler  une  compagnie 
d'actionnaires,  ou  a  inventer  un  moyen  subtil  d'ouvrir  les 
serrures,  mais  a  fonder  une  religion,  et  a  entrainer  sur  ses 
pas  de  grandes  multitudes  qui  reverent  son  nom !  II 
public  une  fausse  Bible,  on  1'accepte  pour  vraie  :  il  se 
donne  pour  le  prophete  de  Dieu,  et  il  le  fait  croire  sans 
trop  de  difficulte ;  il  etablit  des  dogmes  qui  blessent  tous 
les  sentiments  de  liberte  des  Americains,  et  il  trouve  des 
Americains  pour  accepter  ses  dogmes  ;  il  proclame  la 
decheance  de  la  femme  dans  un  pays  ou  elle  est  plus 
veritablement  souveraine  que  dans  aucune  contree  de 
1'Europe,  et  il  se  rencontre  des  femmes  pour  venir  se 
remettre  entre  ses  mains  !  " 

Add  to  this,  that,  professing  to  live  in  such  sanctity 
and  close  communion  with  God  as  to  be  able  to  raise  the 
dead,  his  life  was  one  of  the  most  open  profligacy,  with 
details  too  sickening  to  mention,  and  that  his  followers 
are  numbered  by  myriads,  —  and  we  have  a  sufficiently 
curious  yet  melancholy  example  of  the  credulity  of  large 
masses.  The  religion  professed  is  eminently  eclectic; 


168  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

each  previous  one  contributing  that  part  which  is  most 
acceptable  to  the  appetites  and  passions  of  man.  We 
cannot  enter  further  into  detail  ;  sufficient  has  been  said 
to  vindicate  the  collective  character  of  this  delusion. 

The  next  epidemic  which  we  have  to  notice  is  still 
more  extraordinary  in  its  psychological  relations,  and 
forms  an  appropriate  climax  to  this  part  of  our  sketch. 

The  Spirit  Faith  in  America  is  computed  to  embrace 
two  millions  of  believers,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  in 
other  lands,  with  twenty  thousand  mediums.  It  appears 
that  these  include  men  in  all  ranks  of  society,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest.  Many  of  the  facts  related  impera- 
tively demand  that  we  should  consider  this  as  a  delusion, 
not  altogether  an  imposture,  especially  the  consideration 
of  the  number  who  have  gone  insane  on  the  subject.  It 
is  said  that  amongst  the  lunatics  confined  in  public  asy- 
lums in  the  United  States,  there  are  7,520  who  have  be- 
come such  entirely  owing  to  this  "  spirit  faith."  The  spir- 
itualist has  w  fixed  creed,  but  finds  his  "articles"  as  he 
advances.  The  fundamental  belief  is  in  their  commu- 
nication with  disembodied  spirits  through  the  means  of 
mediums,  —  persons  who  are  sensible  of  the  presence  of 
these  spirits,  and  can  learn  and  interpret  their  will. 
There  are  "  rapping  mediums,"  whose  mode  of  action  is 
sufficiently  well  known  ;  there  are  the  "  writing  medi- 
ums," who  in  a  kind  of  cataleptic  trance  write  down  the 
communications  of  the  spirits.  There  are  also  the 
"  speaking  mediums."  On  these  last  M.  Littre  has  the 
following  remarks  :  — 

"Ceux-ci  sont  des  vmtables  pythonesses;  d'une  voix 
souvent  differente  de  la  leur,  ils  prononcent  des  paroles 
qui  leur  sont  inspirees,  ouqui  sont  miscs  <!irectement  d.uis 
leur  bouche.  Cette  passivete  a  etc  notec  chez  les  convul- 
sionnaires.  Plusieurs  parlaient  comme  si  les  levres,  la 
langue,  tons  les  organes  de  la  pronouciation  eussent  tSte* 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.  109 

remues  et  mis  en  action  par  une  force  etrangere ;  dans 
1'abondance  de  leur  eloquence,  ils  leur  semblaient  qu'ils 
debitaient  des  idees  qui  ne  leur  appartenaient  aucune- 
ment,  et  doiit  ils  n'acqueraient  la  connaissance  qu'au  mo- 
ment ou  leurs  oreilles  etaient  frappfe  par  le  son  des 
mots.  Une  des  prophetesses  disait,  et  ce  qu'elle  declarait 
s'appliquait  a  des  milliers  d'autres  —  '  Je  sens  que  1'esprit 
divin  forme  dans  ma  bouche  les  paroles  qu'il  me  veut 
faire  pronoiicer.  Pendant  que  je  parle,  mon  esprit  fait 
attention  a  ce  que  ma  bouche  prononce,  comine  si  c'etait 
un  discours  recite  par  un  autre.' " 

Interpreted  by  these  three  orders  of  media,  the  spirits 
give  information  on  all  subjects  upon  which  they  are  con- 
sulted, —  religious,  social,  political,  or  medical.  They 
relate  past  events,  interpret  present  ones,  and  prophesy 
the  future.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  spirits 
have  not  all  the  wisdom  popularly  attributed  to  "  ghosts," 
for  they  make  frequent  mistakes  both  as  to  past  and 
present,  whilst  their  knowledge  of  the  future  is  dealt 
out  economically  and  oracularly.  Their  religious  instruc- 
tions are  involved  in  a  vague  mysticism  ;  and  their  social, 
domestic,  and  political  directions  would,  if  followed,  often 
lead  to  remediless  confusion.  It  is,  nevertheless,  a  thriv- 
ing trade,  for  the  revelations  of  the  invisible  world  are 
made  a  matter  of  merchandise,  and  as  publicly  adver- 
tised as  any  other  quack  medicine. 

These  phenomena  are  closely  allied,  on  the  one  hand, 
with  those  of  trance  and  nysteria,  and  on  the  other  with 
those  of  witchcraft  and  demoniacal  possession,  of  the 
prophecies  of  Cevennes,  the  "  preachings  "  of  Sweden, 
the  Apostle-baptists  of  Germany,  the  Convulsioimaries  of 
St.  Medard. 

M.  Littre  suggests  an  ingenious  theory  of  their  somatic 
origin,  which  we  shall  endeavor  to  condense.  He  en- 
tirely disbelieves,  in  the  outset,  in  their  spiritual  origin, 
8 


170  A    PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

—  first,  from  the  smallness  and  absurdity  of  the  results 
produced ;  secondly,  because  all  the  manifestations  are 
such  as,  in  a  sporadic  form,  are  well  known  and  recog- 
nized as  the  normal  symptoms  of  certain  pathological 
conditions  of  the  nervous  centres. 

These  phenomena  are  all  resolvable  into  disorders  of 
the  senses,  muscular  actions,  and  intelligence  ;  and  M. 
Littre  shows  first  how  these  may  all  be  affected  by  well- 
known  physical  agents,  producing  certain  definite  physio- 
logical results.  Thus  illusions  of  the  eye  may  be  pro- 
duced by  belladonna, — those  of  the  ear  by  large  doses  of 
quinine.  The  muscular  system  may  be  convulsively 
affected  by  the  administration  of  strychnine,  whilst  a 
general  modification  (or  even  aberration)  of  the  intelli- 
gence and  the  emotions  is  producible  at  will  by  the  use 
of  opium,  hachisch,  and  other  narcotics. 

These  results  are  all  physical,  they  are  likewise  all 
special,  definite,  and  constant.  Whence  it  may  be  con- 
sidered as  ascertained,  — 

(1)  Tliat  a  certain  physiological  (or  pathological)  condi- 
tion of  the  nervous  centres  is  connected  with  illusions. 

But  (2)  it  is  well  known  that  whatever  subjective  sen- 
sations may  be  produced  by  external  agency  may  also  be 
produced  by  internal  changes,  i.  e.  changes  in  the  or- 
gans themselves.  Thus,  from  congestion  and  other 
causes,  the  eye  may  perceive  light,  the  ear  may  perceive 
sound,  without  those  being  actually  present ;  and  so 
with  the  other  senses.  Under  similar  circumstances, 
the  intelligence  is  troubled,  creates  strange  associations 
of  ideas,  sees  visions,  and  appears  abstracted  from  a  real 
world  to  live  in  an  imaginary  one.  Here  we  have  the 
same  condition  as  that  referred  to  above,  produced  spon- 
taneously, —  yet  the  source  is  somatic  or  physical. 

And  again  (3)  we  know  that  certain  pathological  con- 
ditions have  a  tendency  to  become  epidemic,  influenced 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  171 

by  causes  not  yet  investigated,  as  glandular,  bronchial, 
and  gastric  inflammation  or  irritation,  in  time  of  plague, 
influenza,  or  cholera  ;  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  con- 
jecture that  the  morbid  change  in  the  nervous  centres, 
which  we  see  in  individual  cases  producing  such  vision- 
ary results,  may  also  become  epidemic,  and  produce 
these  aggregate  delusions. 

On  reviewing  the  foregoing  details,  we  see  how  strong 
is  the  tendency  of  opinion  once  promulgated  to  run  into 
an  epidemic  form,  —  no  opinion,  no  delusion,  is  too  ab- 
surd to  assume  this  collective  character.  We  observe 
also  how  remarkably  the  same  ideas  reproduce  them- 
selves, and  reappear  in  successive  ages.  We  have  now 
to  examine  those  cases  in  which  individual  crime  op- 
erates upon  masses  of  people  to  produce  great  numbers 
of  imitations.  We  shall  see  that  no  crime  is  too  horrible 
to  become  popular,  —  homicide,  infanticide,  suicide, 
poisoning,  or  any  other  diabolical  human  conception. 

Crime  of  various  kinds  appears  to  be  endemic  in 
certain  countries,  and  even  to  be  incorporated  in  the 
forms  of  religion  peculiar  to  them.  Assassination  was 
one  of  the  principal  observances  among  the  subjects  of  the 
Old  Man  of  the  Mountain,  —  a  sect  which  lasted  nearly 
two  centuries,  and  carried  dismay  and  terror  into  every 
court  in  Europe.  Infanticide  is  a  part  of  the  religion  of 
the  Hindoos.  It  is  stated  in  Buchanan's  "  Researches 
in  Asia,"  that  the  number  of  infants  killed  in  one  year 
in  the  two  provinces  of  Cutch  and  Guzerat  was  thirty 
thousand.  It  is  also  endemic  in  China ;  the  num- 
ber of  children  exposed  in  Pekin  alone  is  about  nine 
thousand  annually.  It  is  much  the  same  in  the  South 
Sea  Islands,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  Ceylon.  Suicide 
appears  to  be  endemic  in  Hindostan  ;  many  hundreds 
lay  violent  hands  on  themselves  each  year,  —  three 
fourths  being  women.  Robbery  is  endemic  in  Italy ; 


172  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

incendiarism  and  murder,  we  regret  to  think,  in  Ireland. 
But  though  these  seem  to  be  the  favored  /tabitats  of  the 
special  crimes  mentioned,  yet  everywhere  are  the  seeds  of 
evil  sown  deep  under  the  surface  of  society,  deep  in  the 
corrupt  moral  nature  of  man,  and  their  development  is 
like  those  curious  phenomena  so  familiar  to  the  observer 
of  animal  life  in  its  most  elementary  forms  ;  where  it 
only  is  required  that  the  proper  nidus  shoidd  be  pre- 
pared, and  countless  millions  of  living  creatures  crowd 
in,  or  originate  from  it,  propagating  themselves  with 
ever-geometrically  increasing  rapidity  ;  —  the  germ  ever 
present,  —  the  conditions  casually  supplied. 

So  let  the  surface  of  society  be  disturbed,  or  its  depths 
ploughed  up  by  influences  of  exceptional  social,  commer- 
cial, or  political  events,  as  in  times  of  speculation,  panic, 
or  war,  then  inevitably  will  these  seeds  of  evil  works 
germinate,  and  their  results  will  be  offences  against 
order,  property,  and  life,  which  for  their  check  will  often 
require  enactments  as  stern  and  unsparing  as  the  fiat  by 
which  the  thistle  and  the  poppy  are  eradicated  from  our 
cornfields.  In  epidemics  of  plague,  cholera,  or  influ- 
enza, we  can  trace  those  conditions  of  public  hygiene 
which  are  calculated  to  favor  or  retard  their  develop- 
ment ;  but  the  cause  of  the  rapid  spread  at  that  particu- 
lar period  remains  a  mystery.  We  believe  that  the 
causes  of  the  spread  of  crime  are  more  amenable  to  in- 
vestigation than  these  ;  that  the  initiative  propensity, 
so  closely  bound  up  with  the  constitution  of  man,  his 
impulses,  weaknesses,  and  vices,  taken  in  combination 
with  the  special,  social,  or  political  conditions  of  any 
given  time,  are  amply  sufficient  to  account  for  our  natu- 
ral principles,  and  to  reduce  to  some  sort  of  law  these 
striking  i-nlh-ctive  moral  aberrations.  We  proceed  to  j/ive 
a  few  illustrations  of  these  aggregates  of  crime,  with  a 
view  to  an  inquiry  into  the  causes  concerned  in  their 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  173 

production  :  (1)  as  to  crime  against  property,  (2)  against 
person  and  life. 

Mr.  Macaulay  gives  a  very  graphic  picture  of  an  epi- 
demic of  housebreaking  and  robbery,  in  the  fourth  vol- 
ume of  his  recent  History.  After  alluding  to  the  scarcity 
of  grain,  he  says  :  — 

"  A  symptom  of  public  distress  much  more  alarming 
was  the  increase  of  crime.  During  the  autumn  of  1692 
3-nd  the  following  winter,  the  capital  was  kept  in  con- 
stant terror  by  housebreakers." 

Attempts  were  made  on  the  mansion  of  the  Duke  of 
Ormond  and  the  Palace  at  Lambeth. 

"  From  Bow  to  Hyde  Park,  from  Thames  Street  to 
Bloomsbury,  there  was  no  parish  in  which  some  quiet 
dwelling  had  not  been  sacked  by  burglars.  Meanwhile 
the  great  roads  were  made  almost  impassable  by  free- 
booters, who  formed  themselves  into  troops  larger  than 
had  ever  been  seen.  The  Oxford  stage-coach  was  pil- 
laged in  broad  day,  after  a  bloody  fight.  A  wagon 
laden  with  £15,000  of  public  money  was  stopped  and 
ransacked.  The  Portsmouth  mail  was  robbed  twice  in 
one  week,  by  men  well  armed  and  mounted.  Some 
jovial  Essex  squires,  while  riding  after  a  hare,  were 
themselves  chased  and  run  down  by  nine  hunters  of  a 
different  sort,  and  were  heartily  glad  to  find  themselves 
at  home  again,  though  with  empty  pockets." 

It  seems  that  these  robbers  were  by  some  suspected  of 
being  Jacobites ;  but  they  showed  the  most  laudable  im- 
partiality in  the  exercise  of  their  calling.  The  gang, 
consisting  of  not  less  than  eighty  names,  were  ultimately 
betrayed  by  the  confession  of  one  of  their  fraternity. 

Another  form  of  crime  against  property  is  that  of 
Incendiarism.  History  abounds  with  instances  of  this 
offence.  \Ve  shall  but  mention  two  cases,  which  will 
illustrate  the  mode  in  which  the  propensity  is  propagated. 


174  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

M.  Marc,  in  his  "  Annales  d'Hygiene  Publique,"  relates 
some  particulars  of  a  band  of  incendiaries,  who  in  1830 
(the  date  is  significant)  desolated  many  departments  of 
France.  A  girl,  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  was  ar- 
rested on  suspicion  of  being  connected  with  them.  She 
confessed  that  "  twice  she  had  set  fire  to  dwellings  by  in- 
stinct, by  irresistible  necessity,  —  a  victim  to  the  sug- 
gestions to  which  she  was  exposed  by  the  constant  reports 
of  fires,  and  the  alarms  from  these  scenes,  which  terrified 
the  whole  country  and  excited  her  diseased  brain."  A 
boy,  about  eighteen,  committed  many  acts  of  this  nature. 
He  was  not  moved  by  any  passion  ;  but  the  bursting  out 
of  the  flames  excited  a  profoundly  pleasing  emotion, 
which  was  augmented  by  the  sound  of  the  alarm-bells, 
the  lamentations,  .clamors,  and  disorders  of  the  people. 
"  Des  que  le  son  des  cloches  annoncait  1'explosion  de 
1'incendie,  il  etait  force  de  quitter  son  travail,  tant  sou 
corps  et  son  esprit  etaient  violemment  agitds." 

In  all  this  we  find  nothing  mysterious,  though  the 
epidemic  is  strongly  developed.  A  time  of  political  ex- 
citement and  change  (1830),  — men's  minds  agitated,  — 
revenge  for  real  or  supposed  injuries  influencing  the  few, 
—  imitation  and  impulse  inducing  the  many  to  follow,  — 
hysterical  girls,  —  excitable  and  idle  boys  (for  most  of 
the  band  were  young),  —  we  have  here  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  elements  well  known  to  exist,  and  ready  to  burst 
forth  into  crime  when  the  example  is  once  set,  and  quite 
capable  of  themselves  producing  the  entire  phenomenon. 

In  De  Quincey's  curious  and  brilliant  paper  entitled 
"  Murder  considered  as  one  of  the  Fine  Arts,"  he  ob- 
serves, with  regard  to  this  class  of  crime,  that  "  it  never 
rains  but  it  pours,"  and  gives  some  singular  illustrations 
of  its  tendency  to  occur  in  groups.  He  mentions  that  in 
the  comparatively  short  time  intervening  between  1588 
and  1635,  seven  murders  or  assassinations  of  the  most 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  175 

distinguished  characters  of  the  time  occurred.  The  first 
was  that  of  William  I.  of  Orange ;  then  Henry  Duke  of 
Guise ;  next  to  him  Henry  III.,  the  last  of  the  Valois 
princes  ;  next  Henry  IV.,  the  first  of  the  Bourbon  dy- 
nasty. Then  followed  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham, of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  lastly  of  -Wallenstein. 
It  is  not  often  in  the  history  of  man  that  such  a  constel- 
lation of  crime  is  met  with ;  yet  epidemics  numerically 
more  formidable  are  constantly  presenting  themselves. 
One  murder  of  great  atrocity  is  constantly  and  (as  it 
would  appear)  inevitably  followed  by  others  vying  with  it 
in  horror.  Sometimes,  also,  a  predominant  delusion 
affecting  large  numbers  gives  rise  to  many  examples  of 
the  same  crime.  Thus,  in  Denmark,  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  a  great  number  of  people  were  affected 
with  the  morbid  notion,  that  by  committing  premeditated 
murder,  and  being  afterwards  condemned  to  die,  they 
would,  by  public  marks  of  repentance  and  conversion  on 
their  way  to  the  scaffold,  be  better  prepared  for  heaven. 
The  murders  were  generally  committed  on  children. 

As  it  was  evident  that  capital  punishment  would  not 
stop  this  epidemic,  it  was  ordered  that  the  delinquents 
should  be  branded  on  the  forehead,  confined  for  life  to 
hard  labor,  and  annually  whipped  publicly.  A  midwife 
in  Paris  for  some  time  was  in  the  habit  of  introducing  an 
acupuncture  needle  into  the  brains  of  new-born  children, 
that  they  might  people  heaven. 

Esquirol  relates  a  curious  case  of  homicidal  mono- 
mania, which  created  much  excitement.  He  was  within 
a  short  time  called  in  to  many  others,  all  of  whom  traced 
the  tendency  to  this  original  case  :  — 

"  Un  monsieur  lit  un  journal  dans  lequel  sont  rapportes 
les  details  du  meurtre  d'un  enfant ;  la  nuit  suivante,  il  est 
eveille  en  sursaut  avec  le  de'sir  de  tuer  sa  femme.  Une 
femme  coupe  la  tete  k  un  enfant  qu'elle  connaissait  a 


176  A   PHYSICIAN'S    PROBLEMS. 

peine,  est  traduite  en  jugement ;  ce  proces  a  beaucoup  de 
retentissement,  et  produit  par  imitation  un  grand  nombre 
de  monoinanies  homicides." 

The  acquittal  of  Oxford  for  shooting  at  the  Queen  was 
quickly  followed  by  the  attempt  of  Francis  to  imitate 
him.  The  case  of  Laurence,  who  in  1844  killed  an 
inspector  of  police,  was  immediately  followed  by  that  of 
Touchett,  who,  without  motive,  save  that  of  imitation, 
shot  a  stranger  at  the  shooting-gallery.  A  similar 
instance  of  succession,  with  its  causes,  is  alluded  to  in 
the  following  paragraph  :  — 

"  It  is  known  that  Mallard,  the  pawnbroker  from  whom 
Wix  purchased  the  pistol  with  which  he  shot  Bostock,  his 
master,  wras  the  shopkeeper  from  whom  Graham  subse- 
quently bought  the  pistol  with  wrhich  he  shot  the  stranger, 
Blewitt.  This  fact,  sufficiently  striking  of  itself,  is  made 
more  remarkable  by  the  pawnbroker's  evidence,  which 
tends  to  prove  that  what  looks  like  a  mere  coincidence 
was,  in  fact,  but  the  operation  of  a  moral  law,  and  that 
wrhere  the  appearance  was  an  accident,  the  reality  was  a 
principle.  l  Immediately]  says  the  pawnbroker,  '  after  the 
assassination  by  Wix,  I  received  a  great  many  applications 
for  pistols,  and  now,  within  the  last  few  days '  (after  the 
second  tragedy),  '  several  persons  have  applied  to  me  for 
the  same  thing.  I  am  now  determined,  however,  never  to 
sell  another.'  Passing  by  the  very  proper  resolve  adopted 
by  this  tradesman  of  mishaps,  we  find  in  the  fact  he 
records  a  startling  revelation  of  the  mental  condition  of  a 
portion  of  that  public  authors  and  orators  are  so  fond  of 
bepraising.  To  many  of  our  London  denizens  there 
would  appear  to  exist  a  fascination  about  the  circum- 
stance of  murder.  About  us  and  near  us,  arrayed  in  all 
the  externals  of  common  sense  and  charity,  are  persons 
endued  with  a  mesmeric  sensitiveness  to  the  horrors  of 
homicide,  from  the  very  intensity  of  whose  abhorrence 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.  177 

of  crime  arises  an  interest  for  it,  tempting  and  fascinat- 
ing them  to  its  commission."  6 

The  homicidal  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution  par- 
took strongly  of  the  nature  of  an  epidemic.  Here  every- 
thing co-operated  to  propagate  the  slaughterous  tendency : 
times  when  political  changes  were  almost  of  daily  occur- 
rence ;  distress  amongst  the  people ;  gradual  loss  of 
respect  for  human  life  in  general ;  self-defence,  terror, 
emulation,  morbid  imitation,  mere  sanguinary  impulse  ; 
—  all  were  in  operation  to  produce  scenes  such  as  man 
had  never  before  witnessed. 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  in  these  cases  the  effect  of 
any  physical  agent,  however  unable  we  may  be  to  com- 
prehend its  modus  operandi.  Esquirol  says  :  "  Lorsque 
le  terrible  klamsin  souffle,  1'  Indien,  arme  du  fer  homicide, 
se  precipite  sur  tout  ce  qu'il  rencontre."  Similar  to  this 
is  the  "  running  amuck  "  of  the  Malay,  when  drunk  with 
bang,  hachisch,  or  enthusiasm. 

In  general,  when  unconnected  with  national  interests, 
the  mere  homicidal  epidemic  must,  for  obvious  reasons, 
be  comparatively  limited  in  its  extent.  There  are  other 
forms,  however,  not  less  criminal,  where  the  same  restric- 
tive causes  are  not  in  operation  :  the  only  one  we  shall 
at  present  notice  is  the  crime  of  duelling.  In  the  year 
1528  Francis  I.  sent  a  cartel  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V., 
and  from  this  time  the  duel  became  a  fashionable  vice,  — 
very  shortly  after  amounting  to  an  epidemic..  In  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV.  of  France  about  5,000  were  killed  in 
ten  years  in  single  combat,  and  14,000  others  were 
similarly  engaged.  All  France  went  mad  upon  the  duel. 
Kings,  popes,  and  bishops  in  vain  fulminated  against  it. 
"At  last,"  says  Lord  Herbert,  the  English  ambassador, 
"  there  was  scarcely  a  Frenchman  deemed  worth  looking 
at  who  had  not  slain  his  man." 

Infanticide  has  a  strong  tendency  to  become  epidemic, 
8*  L 


178  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  which  we  will  mention  one  instance  only.  In  one  of 
the  departments  of  France,  about  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  a  girl  killed  her  illegitimate  child.  The  case 
created  much  excitement  and  interest,  as  there  had  not 
been  a  crime  for  very  many  years  of  that  nature.  Within 
twelve  months,  eleven  others  occurred  in  the  same  de- 
partment, very  similar  in  details. 

Xo  individual  crime  seems  to  have  so  strong  a  ten- 
dency to  spread  by  example  and  imitation  as  Suicide. 

"  L  'apparition  epidemique  du  suicide,"  says  M.  Esqui- 
rol,  "est  un  phenomene  bien  singulier.  Depend-elle 
d'une  disposition  cachee  de  I'atmosphere,  de  limitation 
qui  le  propage,  de  circonstances  politiques  qui  boulever- 
sent  un  pays,  ou  de  quelque  idee  dominante  favorable 
au  suicide  ?  II  est  certain  que  cette  apparition  subite 
et  passagere,  mais  en  quelque  sorte  epidemique,  apparti- 
ent  a  des  causes  differentes." 

Mr.  Lecky,  in  his  recent  "  History  of  European  Morals," 
notices  that  "  epidemics  of  purely  insane  suicide  have  also 

not  unfrequently  occurred In  that  strange  mania 

which  raged  in  the  Neapolitan  districts  from  the  end  of 
the  fifteenth  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
which  was  attributed  to  the  bite  of  the  tarantula,  the 
patients  thronged  in  multitudes  towards  the  sea,  and 
often,  as  the  blue  waters  opened  to  their  view,  they 
chanted  a  wild  hymn  of  welcome,  and  rushed  with  passion 
into  the  waves." 

In  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies,  a  Stoic  philosopher 
preached  so  earnestly  and  eloquently  contempt  of  life 
and  the  blessings  of  death,  that  suicide  became  very  fre- 
quent. His  name  was  Hegesias,  surnamed  "  the  Orator 
of  Death."  On  this  the  writer  just  quoted  remarks  : 
"A  conspicuous  member  of  that  Cyrenaic  school,  which 
esteemed  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  the  sole  end  of  a  ra- 
tional being,  he  taught  that  life  was  so  full  of  cares,  and 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.  179 

its  pleasure  so  fleeting  and  so  alloyed,  that  the  happiest 
lot  for  man  was  death  ;  and  such  was  the  power  of  his 
eloquence,  so  intense  was  the  fascination  he  cast  around 
the  tomb,  that  his  disciples  embraced  with  rapture  the 
consequence  of  his  doctrine  ;  multitudes  freed  themselves 
by  suicide  from  the  troubles  of  the  world  ;  and  the  con- 
tagion was  so  great,  that  Ptolemy,  it  is  said,  was  com- 
pelled to  banish  the  philosopher  from  Alexandria." 

Some  of  the  illustrations  which  follow  are  extracted 
from  Dr.  Winslow's  "  Anatomy  of  Suicide,"  and  also  from 
M.  Esquirol's  essay  on  Suicide  in  the  "  Diet,  des  Sciences 
Medicales." 

The  ladies  of  Miletus  committed  suicide  in  great  num- 
bers, because  their  husbands  and  lovers  were  detained 
by  the  wars  !  At  one  time  there  was  an  epidemic  of 
drowning  amongst  the  women  of  Lyons,  —  they  could 
assign  no  cause  for  this  singular  tendency  ;  it  was 
checked  by  the  order  that  all  who  drowned  themselves 
should  be  publicly  exposed  in  the  market-place.  That 
at  Miletus  was  stopped  by  a  similar  device.  The  ladies 
chiefly  hung  themselves,  and  the  magistrate  ordered 
that  in  every  future  case  the  body  should  be  dragged 
through  the  town  by  the  rope  employed  for  the  purpose, 
and  naked.  An  ancient  historian  of  Marseilles  records 
that  the  girls  of  that  city  got  at  one  time  the  habit  of 
killing  themselves  when  their  lovers  were  inconstant ! 

The  following  passage  is  extracted  from  the  "  Anatomy 
of  Suicide ":- 

"  Sydenham  informs  us,  that  at  Mansfield,  in  a  partic- 
ular year,  in  the  month  of  June,  suicide  prevailed  to  an 
alarming  degree,  from  a  cause  wholly  unaccountable. 
The  same  thing  happened  at  Rouen  in  1806  ;  at  Stutt- 
gardt,  in  181 1  ;  and  in  the  Valois  in  the  year  1813.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  epidemics  of  the  kind  was  that 
which  prevailed  at  Versailles  in  the  year  1793.  The 


180  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

number  of  suicides  within  the  year  was  1,300,  —  a  num- 
ber out  of  all  proportion  to  the  population  of  the  town.'1 

Suicide  not  unfrequently  accompanies  epidemics  of  a 
bodily  disease,  such  as  pellagra.  It  is  said  that  one  third 
of  the  victims  of  this  affection  commit  suicide.  Nostalgia 
is  also  a  very  frequent  cause  of  this  crime. 

Closely  connected  with  this  subject  is  that  of  self-mu- 
tilation, a  singular  instance  of  which  is  here  subjoined  :  — 

"In  the  month  of  February,  1844,  350  men  of  the 
3d  battalion  of  the  1st  Regiment  of  the  Foreign  Legion 
were  encamped  at  Sidi-bel  Abbes,  in  the  province  of 
Oran.  A  soldier  mutilated  himself  by  a  blow  upon  his 
wrist  with  the  lock  of  his  gun.  Thirteen  others  in- 
flicted a  similar  injury  upon  themselves  within  twenty 
days.  None  of  these  men  would  admit  that  the  mutila- 
tions were  voluntary,  but  all  affirmed  that  they  arose 
from  pure  accident  while  cleaning  their  arms.  It  was 
not  possible,  in  a  single  case,  to  discover  a  plausible 
motive  to  explain  so  strange  a  circumstance.  The  com- 
manding officer,  alarmed  at  this  singular  epidemic,  and 
supposing  it  might  extend,  removed  the  camp  some 
seven  or  eight  leagues,  to  a  place  occupied  by  the  10th 
battalion  of  Chasseurs  of  Vihcennes,  commanded  by  M. 
Boete.  The  astonishment  of  the  officer  commanding  the 
Foreign  Legion  was  great  when  M.  Boete  informed  him 
that  eight  of  his  men  had  mutilated  themselves  in  the 
same  way,  and  nearly  at  the  same  time.  The  command- 
ing officer  and  the  surgeon  both  affirm  that  there  was  no 
communication  between  the  two  camps.  But  even  sup- 
posing that  a  communication  had  existed,  it  only  affords 
another  example  of  the  force  of  imitation."  7 

\\  e  have  deferred  till  the  close  of  our  list  of  the  vices 
and  crimes  which  disfigure  humanity  epidemically,  that 
of  Poisoning,  partly  because  of  its  close  connection  with 
the  aspect  of  the  present  time,  and  partly  because  from 


ON   MORAL  AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  181 

its  secret  nature,  the  facilities  which  are  afforded  for  its 
commission,  and  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  detec- 
tion, it  appears  to  us  to  exercise  a  more  fearfully  demor- 
alizing influence  upon  society  than  any  o£  those  already 
noticed,  dreadful  as  is  the  aspect  of  many  of  them. 

"  Early  in  the  sixteenth  century,"  says  Mackay,8  "  this 
crime  seems  to  have  gradually  increased,  till  in  the  seven- 
teenth it  spread  over  Europe  like  a  pestilence."  An  atten- 
tive consideration  of  the  facts  will  show  that  this  rapid 
spread  quite  naturally  resulted  from  the  well-known 
causes  in  operation,  —  evil  passions  originating  the 
crime,  which  then  became  popular,  by  temporary  impu- 
nity, by  impulse,  by  imitation,  and  by  the  publication  of 
details,  leading  the  public  mind  to  dwell  upon  the  subject, 
and  gradually  inducing  a  familiarity  with  the  crime,  and 
a  proportionate  contempt  for  human  life.  Many  of  these 
influences  are  even  now  rife,  and  the  result  is  the  har- 
vest of  crime  which  is  constantly  thickening  around  us ; 
yet  surely  some  useful  lesson  may  be  learnt  by  the  ac- 
cumulation of  the  experience  of  past  ages. 

Sporadic  cases  of  poisoning  occur  very  far  back  in  his- 
tory ;  but  the  first  epidemic  which  we  meet  with  is  in 
Italy  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Lebret,  in  his  "  Maga- 
zin  zum  gebrauche  der  Staaten  Kirche  Geschichte,"  re- 
lates that  in  1659  Alexander  VII.  was  informed  by 
many  of  the  clergy  that  a  number  of  young  women  had 
confessed  to  having  poisoned  their  husbands,  for  Various 
motives  ;  no  names  were  mentioned,  but  the  authorities 
were  directed  to  look  out  for  these  events.  This  caution 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a  society  of  young  wives, 
who  met  nightly  at  the  dwelling  of  an  old  woman  called 
La  Spara  ;  and  their  business  was  to  arrange  the  details 
of  their  poisonings.  La  Spara  and  four  others  were 
hanged ;  thirty  were  publicly  whipped  through  the 
streets,  and  a  great  number  were  banished.  Shortly 


182  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

afterwards  nine  others  were  hanged,  "  and  many  more, 
including  young  and  beautiful  girls "  (Mackay),  were 
whipped  half  naked  through  the  streets  of  Rome.  To 
these  succeeded  the  notorious  Tophania,  the  inventor  of 
the  "Aqua  Toffana,"  now  generally  supposed  to  have 
been  a  solution  of  some  neutral  arsenical  salt.  This 
wretched  creature  carried  on  her  horrible  trade  for 
above  fifty  years,  selling  poison  to  those  who  could  af- 
ford to  buy ;  but  such  was  her  sympathy,  says  Lebrct, 
with  those  who  were  tired  of  their  husbands,  that  she 
freely  gave  it  to  them,  if  they  could  not  afford  to  pay. 
She  was  ultimately  detected  and  strangled,  after  having 
confessed  her  crimes  and  her  employers.  The  succeeding 
punishments  for  the  time  checked  the  mania. 

About  the  same  time,  or  a  little  after,  a  similar  epi- 
demic appeared  in  France.  Between  1670  and  1680 
Madame  de  Sevigne  feared  that  Frenchman  and  poisoner 
would  become  synonymous,  so  frequent  was  the  crime. 
The  horrible  series  of  murders  perpetrated  by  Madame 
dc  Brinvilliers  may  be  passed  over  as  being  well  known  : 
but  it  is  especially  interesting  to  trace  their  effects  upon 
the  public  mind.  We  quote  again  from  Mr.  Mackay:  — 

"  During  the  trial  all  Paris  was  in  commotion.  La 
Brinvilliers  was  the  only  subject  of  conversation.  All 
the  details  of  her  crimes  were  published,  and  greedily  de- 
voured;  and  the  idea  of  secret  poisoning  ivas  first  put 
into  the  heads  of  hundreds  who  afterwards  became  guilty 
of  it.  It  was  now  (i.  e.  after  her  execution  and  confes- 
sion) that  the  mania  for  poisoning  began  to  take  hold  on 
the  popular  mind.  From  this  time  to  1682  the  prisons 
of  France  teemed  with  persons  accused  of  this  crime." 

The  criminals    were   detected  ultimately,  and    many 

burned  <»r  hanged  in  1671);  but   "for  two  years  longer 

the  crime  continued  to  rage,  and  was  not  finally  sup- 

od  till  the  stake  had  blazed  or  the  noose  dangled 

for  upward*  of  a  hundred  individuals" 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  183 

Hitherto  we  have  had  in  England  no  such  fearful  epi- 
demic as  these,  but  are  we  not  even  now  exposed  to  the 
droppings  before  the  tempest  ]  Do  we  not  hear  the 
growling  of  the  thunder  before  the  storm  breaks  in  all 
its  fury  1 

In  the  year  1845,  a  year  memorable  in  our  annals,  the 
case  of  Tawell  the  Quaker,  which  is  too  well  known  to 
need  recapitulation,  excited  much  interest,  and  was  the 
topic  of  almost  exclusive  comment  for  some  time,  even 
in  those  days  of  commercial  madness.  Poisoning  was 
brought  prominently  before  the  public ;  and  the  mere 
accident  by  which  detection  was  brought  about  suggested 
to  many  minds  the  facility  with  which  such  crime  could 
be  accomplished,  and  perhaps  escape  detection.  Whoever 
will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  "  Annual  Registers  " 
since  that  period,  will  find  almost  constant  reference  to 
the  great  increase  of  poisoning  in  Great  Britain.  Public 
indignation  was  greatly  excited  a  few  years  ago  at  the 
revelations  made  concerning  the  burial-clubs  :  the  num- 
ber of  the  children  that  fell  victims  at  this  time  is  not 
to  be  ascertained,  but  was  certainly  great ;  and  "  we  re- 
member," says  a  vigorous  writer  in  the  Express  of  March 
14,  1856,- 

"  The  sudden  revelation  of  poisoning  practices  among 
the  neglected  poor  in  certain  agricultural  counties,  where 
mothers  had  been  taught,  by  the  operation  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  to  believe  that  the  most  loving  office  they  could 
fulfil  towards  their  children  was  to  send  them  early  from 
the  pains  of  life  to  be  '  better  off  with  the  Lord.'  None 
of  us  are  likely  to  forget  that  one  very  poor  woman 
avowed,  without  any  sense  of  guilt  or  shame,  that  she 
had  thus  dismissed  to  ease  and  plenty  eight  infants  in 
succession  by  putting  arsenic  on  her  breasts." 

We  in  1856  seem  threatened  with  the  storm,  of  which 
these  were  but  the  preliminary  drops ;  the  crime  of  poi- 


184  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

soning  is  brought  prominently  before  us,  it  fills  men's 
minds,  and  illustrations  of  it  crowd  our  daily  and  weekly 
papers.  But  we  will  not  add  to  the  wrong  that  we  be- 
lieve is  thus  done ;  we  refrain  from  all  details  and  com- 
ments. 

The  cumulative  portion  of  our  task  is  ended.  To  ex- 
hibit mind  in  its  contagious  aspect,  we  have  passed  in 
review  not  only  those  conditions  of  aberration  which  from 
their  transitory  nature  may  most  strictly  be  considered 
as  epidemics,  but  also  those  which,  having  risen  from 
small  beginnings,  have  spread  rapidly,  and  ultimately 
exercised  a  permanent  influence  upon  the  race.  "NVe  have 
seen  that  in  all  its  manifestations,  Thought,  Emotion,  Ex- 
pression, and  Action,  mind  has  a  powerful  action  upon 
mind.  The  individual  error  or  crime  acts  upon  the  mass 
by  suggestion,  —  the  mass  reacts  upon  the  individual  by 
intensifying  every  development  of  emotion.  The  tension 
of  thought,  which  at  first  leads  to  any  delusion,  may  be 
but  slight ;  but  when  it  takes  hold  upon  numbers,  each 
individual  is  affected  by  the  combined  force  of  these 
numbers.  It  is  like  the  addition  of  plates  to  a  galvanic 
battery,  and  the  effect  is  almost  like  it,  numerically  pro- 
portionate. The  man  who  timidly  enunciates  an  opinion 
so  long  as  it  is  but  his  own,  will  die  in  its  defence  when 
strengthened  by  the  moral  force  of  thousands.  And  this 
stanch  adherence  to  any  given  view  is  quite  independent 
of  whether  it  may  be  right  or  wrong,  important  or  other- 
wise. Nothing  can  more  strongly  illustrate  this  position 
than  the  persistency  with  which,  when  the  witch-mania 
was  fairly  established,  the  victims  of  this  delusion  per- 
sisted in  dying  in  support  of  their  belief. 

Our  catalogue  of  error,  folly,  fanaticism,  and  crime 
has  been  a  long  one ;  yet  we  have  selected  but  a  very 
small  number  from  those  with  which  all  history  abounds, 
—  may  we  not  say,  of  which  almost  all  history  consists  ? 


ON    MORAL   AND  CRIMINAL    EPIDEMICS.  185 

This  would,  however,  be  a  profitless  enumeration,  if  we 
could  not  deduce  some  general  principle,  as  indicative  of 
the  causes  of  all  the  singular  phenomena  passed  in  re- 
view. 

Granting  the  corrupt  nature  of  man  to  be  the  primary 
source  of  all  crime,  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that  its  develop- 
ment is  favored  and  fostered  by  the  predominance  of 
appetite  and  instinct  over  volition,  —  of  imagination  and 
impulse  over  reason  and  judgment.  And  what  is  this 
but  the  permanence  of  an  infantile  condition  of  mind  1 
Children  have  appetites  and  instincts  strong,  —  reason 
undeveloped,  —  passion  unregulated.  A  proper  system  of 
education  (strictly  so  called)  has  a  tendency  to  substitute 
reason  for  instinct,  to  develop  the  former,  to  hold  in  check 
the  latter.  If  this  be  neglected,  or  if  it  be  misdirected, 
man  will  grow  up  a  child  in  all  but  its  innocence  and 
its  inability  to  do  evil,  —  his  appetites,  impulses,  and 
passions  are  strengthened  by  indulgence  and  lack  of  any 
restraining  influence,  his  reason  and  judgment  are  null 
from  disuse.  In  this  state  (and  of  how  vast  a  majority 
of  our  fellow-creatures  is  this  the  condition  !)  he  is  an 
easy  prey  to  any  class  of  ideas  or  emotions  which  may 
be  presented  to  him,  —  he  receives  them,  adopts  them, 
and  imitates  them,  because  he  cannot  analyze  them,  — 
because  they,  perhaps,  tend  to  the  indulgence  of  the  de- 
sire of  the  eye,  or  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  —  because  they 
flatter  his  pride,  —  but  most  chiefly  because  uncultivated 
and  uneducated  man  is  essentially  mimetic.  Of  the  in- 
fluence of  morbid  imitation  in  producing  crime  many 
instances  have  already  been  given.  Dr.  Winslow,  in  his 
"  Anatomjr  of  Suicide,"  relates  the  following :  — 

"A  criminal  was  executed  not  many  years  ago,  in 
Paris,  for  murder.  A  few  weeks  after,  another  murder 
was  perpetrated  ;  and  when  the  young  man  was  asked  to 
assign  a  reason  for  taking  away  the  life  of  a  fellow-crea- 


186  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ture,  he  replied,  that  he  was  not  instigated  by  any  feel- 
ing of  malice,  but,  after  having  witnessed  the  execution,  he 
felt  a  desire,  over  which  he  had  no  control,  to  commit  a 
similar  crime,  and  had  no  rest  until  he  had  gratified  his 
feelings." 

A  similar  instance  occurred  recently  in  one  of  OUT 
Northern  counties,  where  the  only  reason  which  the  mur 
derer  could  give  for  cutting  off  the  head  of  a  child  was, 

that  W (mentioning  the  name  of  another  notorious 

criminal)  had  done  so  before  him.  The  following  re- 
markable  instance  is  also  from  Dr.  Winslow's  "  Anatomy 
of  Suicide  "  :  — 

"  Some  years  ago,  a  man  hung  himself  on  the  thresh< 
old  of  one  of  the  doors  of  the  corridor  at  the  Hotel  deg 
Invalides.  No  suicide  had  occurred  in  the  establishment 
for  two  years  previously ;  but  in  the  succeeding  fortnight, 
five  invalids  hung  themselves  on  the  same  cross-bar,  and  the 
governor  was  obliged  to  shut  up  the  passage." 

It  is  needless  further  to  multiply  examples  ;  the  imi- 
tative instinct  is  perhaps  the  most  powerful  in  our  na- 
ture ;  and 

"It  is  in  homicidal  mania  that  we  look  for  the  most 
striking  illustrations  of  this  mysterious  form  of  cerebral 
disease.  The  instances  on  record  of  the  dreadful  exercise 
of  this  perverted  instinct,  under  circumstances  the  most 
peculiar  and  afflicting,  are  numerous  and  well  authenti- 
cated, and  the  law  is  now  well  established  among  cere- 
bral physiologists,  that  to  persons  thus  diseased,  the  la- 
tent impulse  —  the  lurking  demon  —  is  often  forced  into 
resistless  action  by  the  influence  of  a  striking  or  notori- 
ous example.  One  startling  and  celebrated  'murder  is 
the  sure  herald  of  several.  The  notoriety  attracts  to  a 
congenial  crime  the  diseased  minds  of  thousands ;  a 
morbid  sympathy  is  created;  there  is  fascination  in 
the  gulf ;  the  diseased  propensity  is  stimulated,  excited, 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  187 

and  made  to  overwhelm  both  volition  and  reason.  The 
last  agency  wanted  is  supplied  to  make  the  madness  cul- 
minate."9 

Love  of  notoriety  is  a  strong  incentive  to  crime. 

"  The  man  who  was  killed  by  attaching  himself  to  a 
rocket,  and  he  who  threw  himself  into  the  crater  of 
Mount  Vesuvius,  were  no  doubt  stimulated  by  a  desire 
for  posthumous  fame.  Shortly  after  the  suicide  at  the 
Monument,  a  boy  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  poi- 
son himself ;  and  on  being  questioned  as  to  his  motives, 
he  said,  'I  wished  to  be  talked  about,  like  the  woman 
who  killed  herself  at  the  Monument ! ' ' 

Another  powerful  instinct  is  that  of  impulse.  By  this 
we  mean  an  apparently  irresistible  tendency  to  the  com- 
mission of  a  certain  act,  without  motive,  without  any 
knowledge  of  the  cause,  but  that  the  necessity  to  perpe- 
trate it  is  most  urgent. 

A  very  striking  instance  of  this  is  mentioned  by  Es- 
quirol.  A  young  girl  of  unexceptionable  morals  and 
character,  of  mild  and  amiable  deportment,  acting  as  a 
nurse,  one  day  met  her  mistress  coming  in  from  a  walk, 
and  requested  to  be  dismissed  the  house.  On  being 
questioned  as  to  her  reasons,  she  said  that  every  time 
she  undressed  the  child,  the  temptation  to  kill  it  was 
almost  irresistible,  apparently  stimulated  by  the  sight 
of  its  white  skin.  This  seems  to  ally  this  class  of  phe- 
nomena to  those  animal  instincts  and  passions  which  are 
aroused  by  the  sight  of  bright  colors,  as  scarlet  to  the 
bull,  <fec. 

The  well-known  case  of  Henriette  Cornier,  related  by 
M.  Marc,  was  of  a  similar  nature,  with  this  exception, 
that  she  accomplished  her  purpose,  the  impulse  having 
proved  too  strong  for  her  to  overcome  ;  the  child  was 
one  to  which  she  had  always  professed  and  felt  extreme 
attachment. 


188  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

All  writers  on  the  psychological  relations  of  crime  rec- 
ognize that,  in  an  otherwise  sound  mind,  this  strong  and 
occasionally  irresistible  tendency  may  suddenly  occur, 
and  depart  again  as  soon  as  gratified,  leaving  the  intelli- 
gence and  the  moral  disposition  in  every  respect  unaf- 
fected. Instances  of  it  occur  very  frequently  after  the 
public  mind  has  dwelt  for  some  time  upon  any  given 
crime ;  yet  it  is  altogether  different  in  nature  from  the 
tendency  to  imitation,  before  noticed.  Many  of  the  sub- 
jects of  it  have  sufficient  warning  given  to  enable  them 
to  request  to  be  restrained,  or  that  the  objects  of  their 
maniacal  fury  may  be  removed. 

"  Une  jeune  dame  qui  s'etait  retiree  dans  une  maison 
de  sante,  eprouvait  des  desirs  homicides  dont  elle  ne 
pouvait  indiquer  les  motifs.  Elle  ne  deraisonnait  sur 
aucun  point,  et  chaque  fois  qu'elle  sentait  cette  funeste 
propension  se  produire  et  s'exalter,  elle  versait  des 
larmes,  snppliait  qu'on  lui  mit  la  camisole  de  force, 
qu'elle  gardait  patiemment  jusqu'a  ce  que  Tacces,  qui 
durait  quelquefois  plusieurs  jours,  fut  passe."  (Marc.) 

Without  adducing  further  illustrations,  we  see  plain- 
ly that  a  great  proportion  of  mankind  are,  so  far  as 
their  reason  and  intelligence  are  concerned,  in  the  condi- 
tion of  children,  —  governed  by  instinct,  appetite,  and 
passion,  —  uncontrolled  by  conscience  and  judgment,  — 
ready  for  any  impression,  prepared  to  tread  any  path 
marked  out  which  leads  to  any  indulgence,  bodily  or 
mental.  The  remedy  for  this  is  plain,  palpable,  and  on 
the  surface,  —  difficult  in  detail,  but  ultimately  practi- 
cable, —  a  sound  form  of  EDUCATION,  secular  and  relig- 
ious. EJnriitiim,  we  say,  —  not  Instruction! — noth- 
ing is  more  dangerous  than  knowledge  to  the  mind 
without  the  capacity  to  make  a  proper  use  of  it ;  then, 
indeed,  it  does  but  afford  an  additional  facility  for  the 
commission  of  crime.  It  is  through  not  carefully  dis- 


ON  MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  189 

tinguishing  between  instruction  and  that  sound  educa- 
tion which  should  consist  in  the  literal  educing  of  the 
faculties  of  the  mind,  as  a  counteracting  agency  to  the 
instincts,  that  Sir  A.  Alison  has  adopted  his  singular 
and  almost  paradoxical  notions  on  the  direct  ratio  be- 
tween education  and  the  increase  of  crime,  as  set  forth 
in  the  following  passage,  and  also  in  the  introductory 
chapter  to  his  recent  History,  at  greater  length  :  — 

"  Philanthropists  anticipated,  from  this  immense 
spread  of  elementary  education,  a  vast  diminution  of 
crime,  proceeding  on  the  adage,  so  flattering  to  the  pride 
of  intellect,  that  ignorance  is  the  parent  of  vice.  Judg- 
ing from  the  results  which  have  taken  place  in  Prussia, 
where  instruction  has  been  pushed  to  so  great  a  length, 
this  is  very  far  indeed  from  being  the  case.  On  the 
contrary,  though  one  of  the  most  highly  educated  coun- 
tries in  Europe,  it  is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most 
criminal.  On  an  average  of  three  years,  from  1st  Janu- 
ary, 1824,  to  1st  January,  1827,  in  Prussia,  where  the 
proportion  of  persons  at  school  to  the  entire  population 
was  1  in  7,  the  proportion  of  crime  to  the  inhabitants 
was  twelve  times  greater  than  in  France,  where  it  was 
1  in  23.  This  startling  fact  coincides  closely  with  what 
has  been  experienced  in  France  itself,  where  the  propor- 
tion of  conviction  to  the  inhabitants  is  1  to  7,285  ;  and 
it  has  been  found  that,  without  one  single  exception  in 
the  whole  eighty-four  departments,  the  amount  of  crime 
is  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  the  number  of  persons  receiving 
instruction." 10 

That  a  State-engine  such  as  that  of  Prussia,  little  bet- 
ter than  an  instruction-mill,  should  produce  results  like 
these,  is  not  surprising  ;  but  all  the  statistics  of  our 
own  country,  when  properly  analyzed,  show  that  crime 
and  true  education  are  perpetually  in  an  inverse  ratio  ; 
and  we  have  the  concurrent  testimony  of  writers  both 


190  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

upon  psychology  and  crime,  that  it  is  chiefly  defective 
or  perverted  education  which  is  the  source  of  mental  ab- 
erration on  the  one  hand,  and  of  crime  on  the  other. 
Mr.  Hill,  in  his  work  on  "  Crime,"  places  bad  training 
and  ignorance  at  the  head  of  his  causes  of  crime.  He 


"  The  great  majority  of  those  (criminals)  that  have 
come  under  my  observation  have  been  found  to  have 
been  either  greatly  neglected  in  childhood,  and  to  be 
grossly  ignorant,  or  at  least  to  possess  merely  a  quantity 
of  parrot-like  and  undigested  knowledge,  of  little  real 
value." 

And  again :  — 

"  By  direct  education  I  need  scarcely  say  that  I  do 
not  mean  the  mere  capability  of  reading  and  writing, 
but  a  systematic  development  of  the  different  powers  of 
the  mind  and  body,  the  fostering  of  good  feelings,  the 
cultivation  of  good  principles,  and  a  regular  training  in 
good  habits." 

For  much  valuable  information  on  this  subject,  we 
refer  our  readers  to  Mr.  Hill's  very  excellent  work  on 
"  Crime,"  Chapter  III. 

An  education  which  merely  instructs  will  encourage 
crime  ;  one  which  co-ordinates  the  faculties  of  the  mind, 
which  gives  exercise  to  reason  and  judgment,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  represses  wit/tout  ignoring  the  instinctive 
part  of  man's  nature,  will  elevate  his  position  in  the  scale 
of  creation,  and  turn  those  faculties  to  the  service  of  his 
fellow-creatures  which  otherwise  would  be  employed  to 
their  destruction.  If  the  emotions  be  constantly  trampled 
down,  and  invariably  subordinated  to  reason,  they  will  in 
time  assert  their  claims,  and  break  forth  in  insanity  or 
crime ;  if  they  be  constantly  indulged,  the  result  will 
probably  be  the  same.  It  is  not  by  directing  attention 
especially  to  them,  but  by  elevating  those  tendencies  of 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  191 

the  mind  which  counterbalance  them,  that  man  will  be 
brought  nearer  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  high  destiny,  and 
his  moral  constitution  be  rendered  less  liable  to  those 
epidemics  of  folly  and  crime  upon  which  we  have  been 
commenting. 

Deeply  as  these  considerations  affect  the  individual 
and  societies,  there  are  others  which  as  closely  involve 
the  interests  of  the  race ;  and  these  are  so  well  and 
forcibly  set  forth  by  a  recent  writer  in  the  Express,  that 
we  make  no  apology  for  quoting  at  length  from  his  very 
philosophic  article  :  — 

"  There  is  always  something  startling  in  a  rapid  suc- 
cession of  cases  of  the  same  kind  of  calamity  or  crime  ; 
and  the  witnesses  of  such  a  disclosure  are  apt  to  forget, 
in  the  strength  of  their  emotions,  that  the  experience  of 
all  ages  should  save  us,  on  such  occasions,  from  astonish- 
ment and  dismay.  Not  only  is  there  always  a  tendency 
in  the  criminal  world,  as  in  other  worlds,  to  modes  (to 
fashions  based  on  sympathy  and  imitation),  but  there  is 
a  deeper  cause  for  the  existence  of  modes  of  suffering 

and  of  crime It  is  a  fact  which  has  employed 

the  pens  of  some  thoughtful  physicians  and  moralists, 
that  changes  in  bodily  functions  and  even  structure  attend 
on  changes  in  civilization,  and  that  every  important  dis- 
covery in  science  is  followed  by  new  and  strange  human 
phenomena,  individual  and  social.  Very  curious  details 
may  be  found  in  medical  literature  on  the  subject  of  the 
varying  physiological  conditions  which  have  attended  the 
different  periods  of  our  civilization.  We  have  never  met 
with  a  medical  man  who  could  or  would  say  how  it  was 
that  the  women  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  —  the  ladies 
of  her  court,  for  instance,  —  could  live  as  they  did, 

Arid  keep  their  health  and  attain  old  age The 

Alimentary  apparatus,  with  all  that  it  involved,  was  then 
the  strong  and  the  weak  point ;  and  the  nervous  system 


192  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

is  the  strong  and  the  weak  point  now.  People  could 
then  digest  like  ostriches  ;  but  the  abuse  of  the  power 
led  to  '  surfeits,'  fevers,  —  inflammatory  disorders  of  all 
kinds.  People  can  now  get  a  great  deal  more  out  of 
brain  and  nerve  than  brain  and  nerve  were  then  trained 
to  yield ;  but  the  complement  of  the  case  is,  that  we 
witness  more  nervous  ailment,  and  stranger  phenomena 
of  the  nervous  system,  than  were  ever  distinctly  observed 
before.  Science  has  helped  to  alter  the  conditions  of  our 
life  by  a  variety  of  new  disclosures.  Sir  Charles  Bell's 
great  discovery  in  the  matter  of  nervous  structure  has 
brought  into  light  and  prominence  whole  classes  of  dis- 
eases and  liabilities ;  and  the  all-important  reforms 
caused  by  science  in  the  study  and  dissection  of  the 
brain  have  thus  far  thrown  our  practical  methods  of 
dealing  with  disease  and  certain  orders  of  crime  into 
confusion,  rather  than  fitted  us  to  treat  them  as  wisely 
as  the  next  generation  may  do.  At  the  same  time,  there 
has  been  a  vast  development  of  the  science  of  animal 
chemistry  ;  and  we  are  in  the  first  astonishment  at  dis- 
covering how  the  curious  mechanism  of  our  bodies  is  sus- 
tained and  kept  going.  Our  condition  is  precisely  that 
in  which  abnormal  nervous  states  are  most  striking  to  us, 
and  in  which  the  subjects  of  food  and  poisons  are  inter- 
esting to  the  greatest  number  of  people.  Tf  a  wise  stu- 
dent of  history,  secluded  from  the  world,  were  told  of 
the  scientific  and  physiological  conditions  of  the  time,  he 
would  probably  declare  us  to  be  liable  to  new  and  unac- 
countable manifestations  through  the  nervous  system  ; 
probably  to  a  fashion  of  poisoning  by  new  methods  ;  and 
certainly  to  an  epidemic  credulity  and  suspicion  about 
poisoning." 

The  writer  then  proceeds  at  considerable  length  to 
argue  from  these  premises  the  necessity  for  taking  these 
changes  into  consideration  in  deciding  upon  the  phe- 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  193 

nomcm  of  the  present  times,  and  urges  most  strongly 
caution  in  receiving  prejudice  as  proof  and  assertion  as 
corroboration  of  crime. 

Profoundly  involved  in  the  mysteries  of  our  nature, 
and  in  those  connected  with  the  tidal  progress  of  our 
race,  these  great  predisposing  causes  of  delusion  and 
crime  only  admit  of  indirect  influence  by  human  agency. 

There  are  others  of  a  more  directly  exciting  character, 
which  are  dependent  upon  our  social  and  political  insti- 
tutions, and  which  therefore  admit  of  modification,  if 
such  can  be  pointed  out,  as  likely  to  influence  the  spread 
of  moral  contagion  in  society.  Our  limits  compel  us  to 
be  very  brief  upon  this  most  important  topic.  The  evils 
to  which  we  refer  originate  from  the  Press,  the  Pulpit, 
the  Bar,  the  Legislature,  and  Science. 

1.  The  great  publicity  given  to  the  minutiae  of  atro- 
cious crimes  in  the  public  Press  is  undoubtedly  a  fruitful 
source  of  crime  in  this  and  other  countries.  The  evil  is 
a  great  and  an  admitted  one  ;  the  remedy  is  yet  to  be 
discovered.  There  is  always  floating  on  the  surface  of 
society  a  numerous  class  of  persons  of  questionable 
moral  sense,  ripe  and  ready  for  every  kind  of  vice,  eager 
to  seize  hold  of  any  excuse  for  the  commission  of  grave 
offences  against  the  person  and  property.  This  class  is 
generally  more  or  less  affected  by  the  publication  of  the 
minute  details  of  murder,  suicide,  and  other  crimes.  To 
them  such  particulars  are  dangerously  suggestive.  They 
tend,  as  it  were,  to  form  the  type  of  the  moral  epidemic, 
and  to  give  form  and  character  to  the  criminal  propensi- 
ties. Esquirol,  and  many  others,  complain  bitterly  of 
the  effect  of  the  public  Press  in  increasing  the  number 
of  cases  of  maniacal  crime.  We  will  not  multiply  in- 
stances, but  select  one  only,  as  especially  interesting  in 
its  evident  origination  from  the  publication  of  the  details 
of  another  case.  In  his  own  confession,  after  the  trial, 


194  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

Dove  (vide  supra)  stated  that  he  had  no  particular  wish 
to  get  rid  of  his  wife  ;  that  Palmer's  (Rugeley)  case 
first  directed  his  attention  to  Strychnia,  and  he  could  not 
describe  what  was  his  state  of  mind  when  he  adminis- 
tered it ;  he  was  "  quite  muddled." 

Can  anything  more  strongly  illustrate  the  evil  ten- 
dency of  the  publication  of  scientific  and  other  details  ] 
The  particulars  constantly  retailed,  also,  in  the  papers, 
as  to  the  state  of  health  and  mind,  the  deportment  and 
general  conduct,  of  notorious  criminals,  are  the  strongest 
inducements  to  many  weak-minded  persons  to  take  the 
same  means  of  acquiring  notoriety.  Add  to  this,  that 
some  time  ago  we  met,  in  one  of  our  most  extensively 
circulated  papers,  with  a  popular  account  of  the  precise 
method  of  making  strychnine  ;  and  we  need  say  no  more 
to  show  the  fearfully  evil  influence  which  an  unregulated 
Press  is  calculated  to  have  on  society. 

2.  The  influence  which  the  Pulpit  exerts  is  of  two 
kinds,  negative  and  positive,  —  the  lack  of  proper,  and 
the  actual  existence  of  improper,  teaching.  On  the 
former  point,  we  shall  allow  the  Church  to  speak  for 
itself :  - 

"It  is  impossible  to  doubt,  or  to  conceal,  that  very 
much  of  the  preaching  of  the  present  day  has  been  de- 
fective in  those  qualities  which  the  character,  tempta- 
tions, and  sins  of  the  times  require.  There  has  been,  in 
many  quarters,  plenty  of  vague  generality,  and  semi-sen- 
timentalism,  but  very  little  of  definite  practical  teaching 
and  intelligible  counsel.  What  is  called,  par  excellence, 
the  preaching  of  '  vital  godliness,'  has  dealt  very  little 
with  the  real  life  of  men,  women,  and  children,  in  detail, 
day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour.  Conventional  language, 
conventional  thought,  and  conventional  feeling  have  been 
excited  and  cultivated ;  but  these  are,  in  many  instances, 
wholly  ineffective,  or  inadequate  for  the  real  battle  of 


ON  MORAL  AND  CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.  195 

life,  with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  in  all  their 
varied  and  ever-varying  disguises,  temptations,  and 
deceptions.  To  what  purpose  is  it  to  preach,  Sunday 
after  Sunday,  on  '  imputed  righteousness,'  to  the  man 
who  is  contemplating  forgery  to  supply  his  extravagance ; 
or  upon  *  justification  by  faith  only,'  to  those  who  are 
about  to  ruin  their  friends  or  neighbors  in  order  to  sus- 
tain their  own  credit ;  or  upon  the  '  errors  of  Popery,' 
to  those  who  are  knowingly  selling  adulterated  articles, 
or  using  short  weights  and  measures  ;  or  upon  the  doc- 
trine of  Predestination,  to  those  who  are  ill-treating 
their  wives,  and  bringing  up  their  children  like  hea- 
thens 1  We  fear  that,  in  many  cases,  we  have  exchanged 
what  was  sneered  at  as  mere  '  moral  preaching '  for 
something  which,  in  its  practical  effects,  allows  a  good 
deal  of  immorality  to  go  on,  unrebuked  by  the  clergy  or 
by  conscience."  n 

With  regard  to  positively  improper  teaching,  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  there  are  few  now  who,  like  that 
renowned  street  preacher  mentioned  by  Mr.  Villette,  ex- 
horted his  hearers  to  become  like  Jack  Sheppard ;  but 
perhaps  the  following  incident  indicates  a  state  of  mor- 
bid craving  after  effect  not  less  objectionable.  For  ob- 
vious reasons  we  mention  no  names,  but  vouch  for  the 

correctness  of  the  occurrence.    A  wretched  man,  W , 

committed  in  cold  blood  a  most  atrocious  crime,  for 
which  he  was  afterwards  executed.  A  minister  visited 
him,  and  hoped  that  his  counsels  were  not  thrown  away. 
On  his  return  home  he  assembled  his  congregation  and 
preached,  in  a  style  of  by  no  means  contemptible  elo- 
quence, a  sermon  upon  the  penitence  and  pardon  of 
"this  poor  erring,  yet  suffering,  fellow-creature,"  —  de- 
picted his  tears  and  his  sighs,  and  his  reminiscences  of 
his  young  days  when  he  went  to  the  Sunday-school,  — the 
manner  in  which  their  joint  petitions  had  ascended  from 


196  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

that  cold  cell  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  ;  and  all  this  in 
a  manner  so  acceptable  to  his  audience  that  very  many 
were  taken  out  in  hysterics.  It  was  not  long  before  one 
of  that  district,  if  not  that  very  congregation,  was  tried 
for  a  crime  similar  in  nature,  and  for  which  he  could 
give  no  reason,  but  that  W had  done  so  before. 

3.  With  great  caution  would  we  comment  upon  the 
influence  which  the  Bar  may  have  upon  the  spread  of 
crime.     We  are  not  prepared  to  suggest  any  remedy,  — 
our  law  recognizes  no  man's  guilt  until  it  is  proved,  and 
all  are  equally  entitled  to  such  defence  as  the  law  allows. 
But  knowing  how  powerful  an  incentive  to  crime  is  the 
love  of  notoriety,  let  any  one  glance  over  the  impas- 
sioned address  of  Mr.  Kelly  to  the  court  in  the  defence 
of  Frost,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  —  the  glowing  elo- 
quence of  Mr.  Phillips,  laboring  under  the  withering  dis- 
advantage of  the  confession  of  Courvoisier's  guilt, — the 
pathetic  appeal  of  Mr.  Robertson  in  favor  of  Alex.  Alex- 
ander, tried  for  the  crime  of  forgery,  —  or  the  thrilling 
and  soul-stirring  peroration  of  Mr.  Whiteside's  defence 
of  Smith  O'Brien,  —  and  then  let  him  consider  whether 
to  be  thus  spoken  of  would  not  be  to  hundreds  a  strong 
incentive  to  go  and  do  likewise. 

4.  The  encouragement  which  the  Legislature  gives  to 
crime  is  derived  from  the  uncertainty,  and  in  many  cases 
the  insufficiency,  of  punishment,  —  from  the  publicity 
and  notoriety  encouraged  in  such  punishments  (for  it  is 
a  common  saying,  that  one  hanging  produces  twenty),  — 
and  from  the  growing  unwillingness  to   inflict  capital 
punishment  even  for  the  most  atrocious  crimes.     For 
obvious  reasons  we  do  not  dwell  upon  this  point.     As  to 
the  "publicity  "  of  punishment,  that  is  now  ( 1869)  hap- 
pily at  an  end;  and  it  may  IK?  that  in  course  of  time 
other  evils  will  in  like  manner  be  remedied. 

5.  The  uncertainty  of  Science,  both  mental  and  toxi- 


ON   MORAL   AND   CRIMINAL   EPIDEMICS.  197 

cological,  is  a  fruitful  source  of  evil.  The  public  press 
teems  with  illustrations  of  this  position  perpetually  ; 
we  have  scientific  evidence  for  the  defence,  and  scien- 
tific evidence  for  the  prosecution,  almost  as  formally  as 
we  have  counsel.  The  Staffordshire  papers  announced 
that  Mr.  Palmer's  defence  was  to  be  purely  scientific  ! 
On  one  of  the  most  important  points  now  (1856)  before 
the  public,  —  the  detection  of  a  subtle  and  powerful 
poison,  —  the  most  eminent  men  are  at  variance.  That 
they  should  differ  amongst  themselves  in  the  details  of 
a  science  not  yet  perfected  is  quite  natural ;  but  that 
these  things  should  be  allowed  to  go  forth  to  the  world, 
so  that  men  may  screen  their  enormous  vices  under  the 
wing  of  Science,  is  a  phenomenon  so  monstrous  as  to  be 
scarcely  credible. 12  In  the  plea  of  insanity,  also,  the 
law  is  so  vague,  and  the  opinions  of  psychologists  are  so 
at  variance,  that  whilst  one  man,  who  is  only  more  ac- 
complished in  crime  than  his  fellows,  is  acquitted  as  in- 
sane, we  have  occasionally  the  sad  spectacle  of  a  maniac 
dangling  in  a  noose  upon  the  gallows  !  These  things  are 
a  disgrace  to  science,  and  these  at  least  are  susceptible 
of  some  alteration  for  the  better.  If  there  be  three  men 
in  the  kingdom  upon  whose  opinion  the  nation  and  our 
rulers  can  depend,  surely,  if  formed  into  a  permanent 
commission  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  mind  of  sup- 
posed lunatics,  their  verdict  would  be  much  more  satis- 
factory than  that  of  a  jury  puzzled  by  the  conflicting  and 
desultory  statements  of  casual  witnesses,  medical  or  oth- 
erwise. If  there  be  three  men  who  are  capable  of  con- 
ducting an  impartial  chemical  investigation,  how  much 
more  weight  and  conviction  would  their  unbiassed  analysis 
carry  to  the  rninds  of  all  men  in  disputed  cases  of  poi- 
soning than  are  attained  by  the  present  defective  and 
vicious  system  of  professional  evidence  ! 
Our  work  is  done.  It  is  ever  a  painful  task  to  dwell 


198  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

exclusively  upon  the  delusions  and  crimes  of  mankind  ; 
but  it  is  in  the  aberrations  of  intellectual  and  moral  na- 
ture that  (as  in  other  sciences)  \ve  must  seek  the  clew 
to  their  normal  laws.  We  have  attempted  to  trace 
these  aberrations,  and  have  here  met  constantly  with 
the  conviction  that  man,  who  has  an  individual  re- 
sponsibility, is  the  plaything,  not  only  of  his  oivn  pus- 
sions  and  instincts,  but,  through  the  laws  of  his  being, 
also  of  those  of  others.  We  have  seen  that  through 
these  same  laws,  and  others  of  still  more  profound  and 
complex  operation,  large  masses  are  likewise  subject  to 
evil  influence,  from  the  caprices  or  vices  of  one.  In  at- 
tempting to  trace  the  causes  of  these  phenomena,  we 
have  ventured  to  intimate  that  our  Press  has  a  liberty 
which  amounts  to  license  ;  that  our  Spiritual  Teachers 
are  lax  in  their  duties  ;  that  Science  is  prostituted  to 
evil  purposes  ;  and  that  our  Legislature  is  not  entirely 
free  from  the  imputation  of  adding  its  quota  to  the  en- 
couragement of  crime.  All  this  forms  a  problem  of  vast 
importance  to  humanity.  Wise  and  thoughtful  men 
are  looking  earnestly  into  it,  and  attempting  its  investi- 
gation ;  and  we,  in  this  imperfect  sketch,  have  but 
wished  to  add  our  mite  to  the  endeavor,  by  inquiring 
into  the  history  and  conditions  of  the  past,  which  is 
indeed  "  the  interpretation  of  the  present,  and  the 
prophecy  of  the  future." 


IV. 
BODY  v.  MIND. 

PROBLEM  :  What  effect  has  the  work   of  the  brain   upon 
life,  health,  and  mind  ? 

IT  is  a  curious  and  interesting  study  to  trace  the  va- 
riety of  opinions  which  have  been  held  concerning  the 
respective  existence  and  the  mutual  relations  of  the  Body 
and  the  Intellectual  Principle,  —  opinions  which  have, 
in  turn,  taken  up  every  position  between  the  absolute 
non-existence  of  Mind,  save  as  a  form  or  function  of 
Matter,  on  the  one  hand ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  merely 
phenomenal  existence  of  Matter  dependent  upon  the  va- 
riations of  a  sentient  or  thinking  immaterial  existence, 
the  Mind.  It  was  only  at  a  comparatively  late  period 
in  the  world's  history  that  Mind  obtained  from  philoso- 
phy its  formal  recognition  as  a  distinct  entity ;  as  some- 
thing independent  of,  and  distinct  from,  Matter ;  closely 
united,  yet  not  allied ;  dependent  for  its  manifestation, 
but  independent  in  essence.  In  these  latter  days,  when 
Mind  and  Matter  are  the  watchwords  equally  of  domestic 
discussion,  of  rival  though  friendly  schools  of  philosophy, 
and  of  fierce  sectarian  controversy,  it  is  difficult  for  us 
to  realize  to  ourselves  the  state  of  the  schools  in  which 
the  laws  of  human  nature  were  taught  as  a  great  whole. 
Yet  so  it  was  ;  it  was  with  man  as  with  the  universe  at 
large,  —  he  must  be  one  and  undivided.  As  the  first  at- 
tempts at  the  formation  of  systems  of  cosmogony  were 
too  vast  in  their  designs  to  do  less  than  account  on  one 


200  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

theory  for  the  whole  cosmical  phenomena,  the  formation 
of  the  universe  was  ascribed  to  one  principle,  as  heat, 
atoms,  attraction  and  repulsion,  fire,  harmony,  numbers, 
&c.,  no  note  being  taken  of  the  ever-progressive  work- 
ings of  the  individual  forces  continually  in  operation 
throughout  nature,  or  the  mechanical  results  of  the  con- 
ditional existence  of  matter. 

Such  being  the  case  in  the  macrocosm,  we  need  feel 
little  surprise  that  the  microcosm,  man's  superficixllij 
homogeneous  nature,  should  remain  long  unanalyzed ;  still 
less,  when  we  consider  what  an  utterly  inexplicable  phe- 
nomenon is  involved  in  its  analysis  into  a  material  mass, 
and  an  immaterial  active  principle ;  no  less  than  that 
something  invisible,  impalpable,  undetectible  by  any  ac- 
cessible means  of  investigation,  must  take  possession  of 
a  mass  of  inert  matter,  and  do  with  it  whatever  may 
seem  good  unto  it.  Rather  may  we  wonder  at  the  bold- 
ness and  originality  of  conception  which  led  Anaxagoras, 
in  the  fifth  century  before  the  Christian  era,  to  proclaim, 
in  the  face  of  all  the  incomprehensible  theories  of  the 
earth  and  man,  that  a  Supreme  Intelligence,  or  Mind, 
was  the  cause  of  all  those  phenomena  hitherto  attributed 
to  Fate,  Chance,  or  some  other  shadow  of  a  name ;  and 
that  man  was  a  compound  being,  consisting  of  a  body 
and  a  spirit.  It  is  true  that  the  bubbling,  seething, 
restless,  explosive  mind  must  have  made  itself  felt  to 
many,  in  constantly  asserting  its  supremacy  over  mat- 
ter ;  the  difficulty  of  accounting  for  these  things  seems 
to  have  been  obviated  by  considering  the  soul  as  consist- 
ing of  finer  atoms  than  the  body  :  and  no  distinct  enun- 
ciation of  a  separate  principle  was  attained  to.  All 
honor,  then,  to  ATi;i\;iLr"r.is,  worthily  surnamed  by  his 
contemporaries,  Novs,  or  Intelligence.  Wild  and  impos- 
sible as  were  his  notions  of  natural  causation  ;  eclipsed 
as  was  his  glory  by  that  of  his  great  pupil  and  successor, 


BODY  V.   MIND.  201 

Socrates ;  yet  to  him  belongs  the  almost  matchless  merit 
of  announcing,  amidst  a  heathen  world,  and  without  the 
light  of  any  external  revelation,  the  primitive  conception 
of  a  One  Omnipotent  Creative  Cause. 

Socrates  appears  to  have  been  dissatisfied  with  Anax- 
agoras,  because  he  could  not  fully  apply  his  own  concep- 
tion to  the  practical  explanation  of  nature's  mysteries. 
In  the  Phaedo,  speaking  to  Ccebes,  he  says  :  "  Having 
once  heard  a  person  reading  from  a  book  written  by 
Anaxagoras,  which  said  that  it  is  Intelligence  that  sets 
in  order  and  is  the  cause  of  all  things,  I  was  delighted 
with  this  cause,  and  it  appeared  to  me  to  be  in  a  manner 
well  that  Intelligence  should  be  the  cause  of  all  things." 
He  then  proceeds  to  state  how  he  expected  that  the  au- 
thor would  be  able  to  explain  all  phenomena  according 
to  this  intelligence,  by  considering  how  it  would  be  best 
for  such  and  such  things  to  exist,  seeing  that  so  they 
must  be  best  if  thus  ordered  ;  also,  "  That  he  would  in- 
struct me  whether  the  earth  is  round  or  flat,  and  would 
explain  the  cause  and  necessity  of  its  being  so,"  &c.  "  I 
was  in  like  manner  prepared  to  ask  respecting  the  sun 
and  moon  and  stars,  with  respect  to  their  velocities ;  — 
in  what  way  it  is  better  for  them  both  to  act  and  be 

affected  as  they  are From  this  wonderful  hope  I 

was  speedily  thrown  down,  when,  as  I  advanced  and  read 
over  his  works,  I  met  with  a  man  who  makes  no,  use  of 
intelligence,  nor  assigns  any  cause  for  the  ordering  of  all 
things,  but  makes  the  causes  to  consist  of  air,  ether,  and 
water,  and  many  other  things  equally  absurd."  In  this 
manner  Anaxagoras  appears  to  have  been  in  advance  of 
Socrates,  though  he  could  not  fully  wield  his  own  idea. 

From  this  time  forward,  the  ^v;^,1  or  anima,  which 
had  hitherto  appeared  to  be  almost  equally  applicable  to 
man  and  the  brutes,  and  even  to  vegetables,  had  a  more 

specific  significance ;    and  man's  compound  nature  be- 
9* 


202  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

came  almost  imperceptibly  a  recognized  dogma  of  philos- 
ophy. 

It  is  often  the  case,  in  the  earliest  endeavors  after  truth, 
that  the  practical  advantages  are  by  no  means  commen- 
surate with  the  actual  progress  made  in  knowledge.  Un- 
der the  early  errors  as  to  man's  nature,  the  body  was 
carefully  trained  along  with  the  mind  ;  both  were  treated 
as  fellow-workers  in  one  cause.  The  Academe,  the  Ly- 
ceum, and  the  Cynosarges  were  schools  for  the  body  as 
well  as  the  mind,  —  there  the  wrestler,  the  discobolus, 
and  the  philosopher  met  for  common  purposes. 

Under  the  advanced  views,  the  body  became  gradually 
neglected  and  despised,  though  this  result  was  naturally 
of  tardy  growth.  Slowly,  however,  and  certainly,  the 
supremacy  of  mind  was  acknowledged  ;  a  powerful  im- 
pulse was  also  given  in  the  same  direction  by  the  diffu- 
sion of  Christianity,  and  especially  by  the  gorgeous  vis- 
ions of  a  glorious  immortality  which  were  opened  to  the 
astonished  minds  of  men  awaking  from  a  long  Pagan 
night.  Body  and  mind  were  thenceforth  held,  by  phi- 
losopher and  Christian,  to  have  separate  and  antagonistic 
interests.  To  the  former,  the  body  was  a  clog,  an  im- 
pediment to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  —  a  something 
perpetually  interfering,  by  its  pains,  its  sorrows,  and  its 
imperfections,  with  the  clear  views  of  truth  which  he 
supposed  the  unencumbered  soul  would  obtain,  —  con- 
stantly distracting  the  attention  by  its  material  relations 
and  requirements,  —  ever  of  the  earth,  earthy,  —  tend- 
ing to  its  own  source,  binding  and  dragging  the  soul 
along  with  it.  To  the  latter,  the  Christian,  the  body 
was  «in  incarnate,  the  source  of  all  evil  and  temptation, 
the  barrier  between  the  soul  and  heaven. 

"  .  .  .  .  Xoxia  corpora  tnrdant, 
Terrenique  hebetant  artus,  moribundaque  membra. 
Hinc  metuunt,  cupiuntque,  dolent,  gaudentque,  nee  aura* 
Suspiciunt,  clausae  tenebris  et  carcere  caeco." 


BODY  v.    MIND.  203 

Epictetus  may  well  illustrate  the  views  of  the  philos- 
opher. When  severely  treated  by  his  master,  Epaphro- 
ditus,  under  the  most  intense  agony  he  smiled,  and  told 
him  that  he  would  break  his  leg  with  twisting  it.  This 
actually  did  occur,  but  without  disturbing  his  equanim- 
ity. On  being  questioned  as  to  the  cause  of  this  aston- 
ishing composure,  he  merely  replied  that  the  body  was 
"external." 

The  small  estimation  in  which  the  body  was  often 
held  is  not  obscurely  intimated  by  the  question  and  ad- 
dress of  ^Eneas  to  his  father,  who  had  spoken  of  souls 
returning  to  their  bodies  :  — 

"  0  pater,  anne  aliquas  ad  coelum  hinc  ire  putandum  est 
Sublimes  animas,  iterunque  ad  tarda  reverti 
Corpora?  quae  lucis  miseris  tarn  dira  cupido?  " 

In  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  the  body 
seemed  to  be  ever  of  less  and  less  estimation.  There  is 
something  even  amusing  in  the  excess  of  contempt  in 
which  it  was  held,  and  the  abuse  heaped  upon  it.  A 
prison-house,  a  cage,  a  weary  load  of  mortality,  —  these 
were,  by  comparison,  complimentary  terms.  Gregory 
Nyssen  calls  it  oa-^s  cpyao-Trjpiov,  "  a  fuliginous  ill-sa- 
vored shop,  a  prison,  an  ill -savored  sink,"  as  the  words 
are  translated  by  an  old  divine.  It  is  "  a  lump  of  flesh 
which  mouldereth  away,  and  draweth  near  to  corruption 
whilst  we  speak  of  it."  St.  Augustine  defines  the  two 
natures  thus,  "  Domine,  duo  creasti ;  alterum  p'rope  te, 
alterum  prope  nihil."  At  the  best,  the  body  was  consid- 
ered a  workshop  for  the  soul,  «  TO£  o-co/xaro?  Ty  ^vx*j 
<£iXo7roVr/<rai.  The  torments  of  the  body  were  so  utterly 
despised,  as  scarcely  to  be  considered  personal  mat- 
ters :  — 

"  Tormenta,  career,  unjrnlfe, 

Stridensque  flammis  lamina, 

Atque  ipsa  poenarum  ultima, 

Mors." 


204  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

In  fine,  the  body  was  considered  the  source  of  all 
evil,  and,  as  such,  worthy  of  no  consideration.  The 
Platonists,  as  St.  Augustine  says,  "  hold  that  these  our 
mortal  members  do  produce  the  effects  of  fear,  desire, 
joy,  and  sorrow,  in  our  bodies  ;  from  which  four  per- 
turbations (as  Tally  calls  them),  or  passions,  the  whole 
inundations  of  man's  enormities  have  their  source  and 
spring." 

The  Manicheans  put  the  climax  to  these  reproaches 
cast  upon  the  body.  They  maintained  that  the  body 
was  so  evil  that  its  creation  cannot  be  ascribed  to  the 
same  author  as  that  of  the  soul.  Farindon  says  :  "  The 
Manichee,  observing  that  war  which  is  betwixt  it  (the 
body)  and  the  soul,  alloweth  it  no  better  maker  than  the 
Devil  "  ;  and  Ludovicus  Vives,  to  the  same  effect  says  : 
"  They  held  all  flesh  the  work  of  the  Devil,  not  of  God, 
and  therefore  they  forbade  their  hearers  to  kill  any  crea- 
tures, lest  they  should  offend  the  Prince  of  Darkness 
whence  they  said  all  flesh  had  originated."  In  their 
opinion,  the  great  object  of  the  government  of  the  God 
of  Light  was  to  deliver  the  captive  souls  of  men  from 
their  corporeal  prisons.  But  one  thing  remained  to  be 
done  after  this,  and  that  was  reserved  for  the  philos- 
ophers of  our  own  era,  viz.  to  deny  the  body  any  ex- 
istence whatever,  save  as  a  phase,  quality,  or  affection  of 
the  mind.  This  annihilation,  however,  it  only  shared  in 
common  with  matter  in  general ;  in  short,  with  all  ex- 
ternal nature. 

Thus  was  an  antagonism,  a  division  of  interests,  insti- 
tuted between  the  material  and  the  immaterial  elements 
of  man's  nature,  —  one  which,  in  various  forms,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  has  been  propa- 
gated even  until  the  present :  now  one  and  now  the 
other  being  held  in  paramount  esteem,  in  accordance 
with  the  demands  necessary  to  be  made  upon  their  func- 


BODY   V.    MIND.  205 

tions.  Here,  brain  has  been  had  in  honor  ;  there,  thews 
and  sinews.  But  the  present  is  essentially  an  iron  and 
a  practical  age  ;  both  strong  limbs  and  thoughtful  minds 
are  in  requisition  ;  and  the  spirit  of  the  age  is  in  nothing 
more  manifest  than  in  the  multiform  attempts,  by  the 
spread  of  rational  education^and  the  increased  attention 
to  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  masses,  to  balance  the 
interests  of  these  two  hitherto  conflicting  elements. 
But  according  to  the  infinite  varieties  of  mind,  and  the 
different  aspects  in  which  these  attempts  are  viewed, 
there  must  ever  be  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  ex- 
tent and  nature  of  the  remedies  applied  to  existing  evils. 
Notes  of  alarm  are  sounded,  and  responded  to  ;  parties 
are  formed ;  watchwords  are  in  every  mouth  ;  discus- 
sions, perhaps  somewhat  acrimonious,  take  place  ;  final- 
ly, out  of  evil  comes  good,  for  the  sense  of  the  com- 
munity is  ascertained,  and  the  evil  is  modified,  if  not 
eradicated. 

Such  is  the  case  at  present  (1858).  Mr.  Gladstone, 
at  the  conclusion  of  an  address  to  the  members  of  the 
Liverpool  Collegiate  Institution,  made  some  allusion  to 
the  antagonism  of  which  we  have  been  speaking. 

"  There  still  remains,"  he  says,  "  in  some  quarters  a 
vulgar  notion  that  there  is  a  natural  antagonism  between 
corporeal  and  mental  excellence.  I  trust  that  corpo- 
ral education  will  never  be  forgotten  ;  that  the  pursuit 
of  manly  sports  will  always  receive  the  countenance  and 
encouragement,  not  only  of  the  boys  who  engage  in  them, 
but  of  the  masters  who  are  responsible  for  the  welfare 
of  those  boys." 

Mr.  Gladstone,  denying  the  reality  of  the  antagonism, 
illustrates  his  position  by  the  case  of  General  Havelock, 
who,  when  at  the  Charter  House,  was  one  of  the  quietest 
of  the  quiet,  "  who  used  to  stand  looking  on  whilst 
others  played,  and  whose  general  meditative  manner 


206  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

procured  for  him  the  name  of  '  Philosopher,'  subsequent- 
ly diminished  to  *  Old  Phloss,' "  —  yet  who  is  now  "  dis- 
tinguishing himself  by  a  temper,  a  courage,  an  activity, 
a  zeal,  a  consistency,  and  a  dogged  and  dauntless  resolu- 
tion, equal  at  least  to  that  of  any  man  that  England  has 
produced  this  century." 

This  casual  allusion  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  gave  rise  to  a 
powerfully  written  but  somewhat  alarming  essay  upon 
the  dangers  of  mental  pressure,  from  our  leading  journal, 
which  has  caused  much  discussion  pro  and  con.  As  this 
essay  embraces  the  entire  case  for  the  prosecution,  — 
that  is,  the  whole  of  the  allegations  brought  by  Body 
against  Mind,  —  we  shall  quote  it  in  great  part,  as  a 
preliminary  to  an  examination  of  the  question  in  some 
detail  as  to  the  effect  of  mental  labor  upon  bodily 
health,  in  relation  to  age,  temperament,  and  other  cir- 
cumstances of  perhaps  equal  importance  with  either  of 
these  :  — 

"  It  was  a  great  point  in  ancient  philosophy,  the 
value  it  attached  to  the  body  and  the  proper  training  of 
it,  the  preservation  of  its  health,  strength,  and  all  its 
proper  powers.  Ancient  philosophy  did  not  despise  the 
body,  did  not  regard  it  as  a  mere  husk  or  outside  of  hu- 
man nature,  or  treat  it  as  a  despicable  and  absolutely  vile 
thing  ;  it  regarded  the  body  as  a  true  part  of  human  n;i- 
ture,  deserving  of  proper  deference,  for  the  failure  of  which 
it  was  sure  to  retaliate  fearfully  upon  the  whole  man. 
Hence  the  gymnastics  of  the  Greeks,  which  were  not 
only  fostered  by  the  boxers  and  wrestlers,  the  drill-ser- 
geants and  corporals  of  that  day,  but  went  on  under  the 
solemn  sanction  of  sages.  There  is  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  tone  of  ancient  and  modern  thought  on  this 
subject,  and  the  ancient  has  certainly  an  advantage  over 
the  modern  on  this  particular  point,  — at  least,  over  the 
modern  before  the  latest  improvements.  It  has  been 


BODY  V.   MIND.  207 

too  much  the  fashion  with  us  to  decry  the  body,  to  talk 
it  down,  to  speak  scornfully  of  it  in  every  possible  way, 
to  be  always  comparing  it  with  the  mind  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  showing  how  vile  and  worthless  it  is  in  com- 
parison, —  a  mode  of  speaking  which,  even  if  it  is  true 
abstractedly,  may  be  indulged  in  such  a  degree  as  to 
involve  a  practical  untruth.  Our  didactic  books  have 
been  full  of  the  praises  of  midnight  oil,  all  our  oracles 
of  learning  have  been  vehement  in  favor  of  unsparing 
study,  and  the  mind  has  been  subjected  to  the  most 
acute  stimulants,  while  the  body  has  been  left  to  take 
care  of  itself  as  it  can.  Of  course,  the  great  mass  of 
our  school  and  university  youth  takes  the  law  into  its 
own  hands  under  these  circumstances,  and  adopts  very 
effective  measures  against  being  goaded  to  suicidal 
study,  but  a  certain  proportion  have  responded  to  the 
whip,  and  responded  but  too  eagerly. 

"  These  have  been  the  tactics,  we  say,  of  our  modern 
masters  of  the  schools  and  encouragers  of  learning, — 
an  unsparing  use  of  the  goad,  a  merciless  appeal  to 
student  ambition  and  emulation,  as  if  it  was  impossible 
to  stir  up  these  motives  too  deeply.  But  how  one-sided 
is  a  discipline  which  applies  this  powerful,  sharp,  and 
penetrating  stimulus  to  the  mind,  while  it  leaves  the 
body  to  itself,  or  rather,  what  is  worse,  suppresses  and 
flings  aside  the  claims  of  the  body,  which  has  to  fare  as 
it  can  under  the  exclusive  and  oppressive  dominion  of  its 
rival  !  How  partial  is  such  a  system,  and  superficial 
because  partial !  After  all  our  sublime  abuse  of  the 
body,  a  body  man  has,  and  that  body  is  part  of  himself ; 
and  if  he  is  not  fair  to  it,  he  himself  will  be  the  suf- 
ferer. The  whole  man,  we  say,  will  be  the  sufferer,  — 
not  the  corporeal  man  only,  but  the  intellectual  man  as 
well.  Particular  capacities  may  receive  even  a  mon- 
strous development  by  the  use  of  an  exclusive  stimulus, 


208  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

but  the  reason  and  judgment  of  the  man  as  a  whole 
must  be  injured  if  one  integral  part  of  him  is  diseased. 
If  the  body  is  thoroughly  out  of  condition,  the  mind 
will  suffer ;  it  may  show  a  morbid  enlargement  of  one  or 
other  faculty  of  it,  but  the  directing  principle  —  that 
which  alone  can  apply  any  faculty  or  knowledge  to  a  good 
purpose,  can  regulate  its  use  and  check  its  extravagances 
—  is  weakened  and  reduced.  How  miserable  is  the 
spectacle  of  morbid  learning,  with  its  buried  hoards,  and 
its  voracious,  insatiable  appetite  for  acquisition,  united 
•with  the  judgment  of  a  child  !  Such  study  does,  in 
short,  leave  men  children  with  remarkable  memories 
and  acquisitive  powers,  who  know  as  much  history, 
philosophy,  and  poetry  as  would  make  a  learned  man, 
but  who  are  not  a  bit  the  nearer  being  men  in  conse- 
quence, because  they  simply  know  by  rote  what  they 
know,  —  they  do  not  understand  their  own  knowledge. 
This  is  to  a  considerable  extent  the  case  with  all  morbid 
learning,  where  the  general  intelligence  has  not  been 
cultivated,  —  which  general  intelligence  depends  on  the 
soundness  and  health  of  the  whole  man,  body  and  mind 
too.  The  picture  of  a  Kirke  White  dying  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  of  nocturnal  study,  wet  towels  round  heated 
temples,  want  of  sleep,  want  of  exercise,  want  of  air, 
want  of  everything  which  Nature  intended  for  the 
body,  is  not  only  melancholy  because  it  is  connected 
with  an  early  death,  it  is  melancholy  also  on  account 
of  the  certain  effect  which  would  have  followed  such  a 
course  unchecked  if  he  had  lived.  We  see,  when  we 
look  down  the  vista  of  such  a  life,  an  enfeebled  and  a 
prostrated  man,  very  fit  to  be  made  a  lion  of,  like  a 
clever  child,  and  to  be  patted  on  the  head  by  patrons 
and  patronesses  of  genius,  but  without  the  proper  intel- 
lect and  judgment  of  a  man.  How  sad  even  is  the 
spectacle  of  that  giant  of  German  learning,  Neander, 


BODY  V.   MIND.  209 

lying  his  whole  length  on  the  floor  among  his  books, 
absorbing  recondite  matter  till  the  stupor  of  repletion 
comes  over  him,  forgetful  of  time  and  place,  not  know- 
ing where  he  is,  on  the  earth  or  in  the  moon,  led  like  a 
child  by  his  sister  to  his  lecture-room  when  the  lecture 
hour  came,  and  led  away  home  again  when  it  was  over ! 
Is  this  humanity,  we  ask,  as  Providence  designed  us  to 
be  1  Is  it  legitimate,  rational  human  nature  ?  It  can 
hardly  be  called  so. 

We  must  not  let  the  mind  feed  itself  by  the  ruin  of 
the  body.  The  mind  has  no  right  to  this  indulgence,  this 
dissipation,  and  whole-length  abandonment  to  its  cravings, 
any  more  than  the  body  has  to  sensual  indulgence.  This 
mental  dram,  the  noxious  stimulant  which  produces 
this  overgrowth  of  mind,  is  as  contrary  to  nature  as  the 
coarser  stimulant  which  unduly  excites  the  body.  The 
mind  should  be  a  good,  strong,  healthy  feeder,  but  not  a 
glutton.  We  have  no  right  to  despise  the  body  or  to 
speak  of  it  only  and  exclusively  as  something  which  is 
vile  in  comparison  with  the  mind.  This  language  will 
lead  astray.  It  will  make  ardent,  ambitious  student 
youth  neglect  health,  and  abandon  themselves  to  the 
process  of  acquisition  at  the  cost  of  body,  and  ulti- 
mately of  mind  too.  Do  not  use  too  unsparingly  the 
motive  of  ambition  in  dealing  with  youth.  It  is  a  mo- 
tive which  is  perfectly  honest  and  natural  within  proper 
limits,  but  when  pushed  to  excess  it  produces  a  feeble, 
sickly,  unmanly  growth  of  character ;  it  creates  that 
whole  brood  of  fantastic  theorists,  sentimentalists,  and 
speculators  which,  in  art,  science,  and  theology  alike,  are 
the  seducers  and  the  corruptors  of  mankind."  —  Times, 
October  28,  1857. 

The  case,  though  certainly  the  extreme  case,  of  the 
injury  that  extreme  and  misdirected  application  of  the 
mind  may  do  the  body,  is  here  fairly  stated ;  the  illus- 


210  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

trations,  however,  are  not  fortunate.  Kirke  White,  from 
his  earliest  infancy,  was  of  so  delicate  a  constitution  us 
to  be  unfit  (as  was  supposed)  for  any  active  occupa- 
tion. The  question  may  naturally  arise,  Would  so 
active  and  irritable  a  mind,  united  to  so  feeble  a  frame, 
have  lacked  opportunity  under  any  circumstances  of 
rapidly  wearing  out  both  itself  and  its  earthly  tene- 
ment ]  The  wasting  fever  of  such  a  mind  is  not  to  be 
allayed  by  any  restrictions  as  to  hours  of  study,  rest,  or 
general  hygiene.  Neander  was  simply  a  recluse,  —  a 
solitary  student ;  nothing  worse  seems  proved  or  alleged. 
That  he  was  so  absorbed  in  his  favorite  pursuits  as  to  be 
not  very  conversant  with  ordinary  every-day  matters, 
and  even  to  be  a  child  in  many  respects,  in  no  re- 
spect distinguishes  him  from  thousands  of  other  men 
whose  whole  existence  is  bound  up  in  concerns  of  much 
less  moment.  He  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  moderate  health,  and  all  his  intellectual  facul- 
ties, we  believe,  to  the  very  close  of  his  life. 

Setting  aside  the  illustrations,  there  are  some  most 
important  allegations,  either  distinctly  expressed  or  im- 
plied, concerning  the  prominence  now  given  to  intel- 
lectual pursuits,  to  the  neglect  and  injury  of  the  bodily 
health.  They  amount  to  this  :  — 

1.  That  mental  labor,  when  approaching  to  extreme, 
has  an  unfavorable  influence  upon  both  the  health  and 
the  character,  ruining  the  former,  and  rendering  the  lat- 
ter "  feeble,  sickly,   and   unmanly " ;  and  that  this  is 
especially  the  case  with  young  persons. 

2.  That  in  our  educational  systems  generally,  the  body 
is  neglected,  and,  at  its  expense,  the  mind  urged  beyond 
its  normal  powers.2 

3.  That  in  our  universities,  in  particular,  the  standard 
of  requirements  for  the  obtaining  of  an  honorable  or 
high  position  is  too  high. 


BODY  V.   MIND.  211 

With  the  third  proposition  we  are  disposed  to  agree 
under  certain  restrictions  and  limitations  ;  as  no  doubt 
many  young  men,  originally  of  feeble  and  degenerate 
constitution,  ignorant  of  any  physiological  laws,  and  care- 
less of  all  hygiene,  do  break  down  both  in  body  and  mind 
under  the  somewhat  severe  requirements  of  the  curric- 
ulum, and  a  mistaken  idea  of  the  true  method  of  mental 
application  with  a  view  to  economy.  To  this  subject  we 
shall  return  shortly. 

The  first  proposition  contains  the  entire  pith  of  the 
question  which  is  the  immediate  object  of  our  investiga- 
tion, and  we  propose  to  inquire  what  are,  from  physio- 
logical considerations,  the  probable  effects  of  mental  labor 
upon  the  bodily  health  ;  what  are  the  actually  observed 
effects ;  upon  what  ages,  temperaments,  <fcc.,  these  effects 
are  most  marked  ;  what  circumstances  are  calculated  to 
influence  for  good  or  for  evil  the  reciprocal  actions  of 
mind  and  body ;  and,  finally,  whether  the  earnest  or 
even  severe  exercise  of  the  mind  may  not,  both  directly 
and  indirectly,  be  attended  by  results  of  a  conservative 
nature,  entirely  opposed  to  the  views  above  quoted. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  allude  even  slightly  to  the 
proofs  that  the  brain  is  the  material  organ  (and  the  only 
one)  through  which  the  mind  acts  and  communicates 
with  the  external  world.  These  proofs  are  in  brief  de- 
rived from  the  facts  that  the  brain  proper  is  the  one  or- 
gan which  increases,  from  the  fish  to  man,  in  proportion 
to  the  intelligence  ;  that  any  part  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, except  the  brain,  or  any  other  organ  of  the  body, 
may  be  seriously  injured,  if  not  destroyed,  and  this  with- 
out any  lesion  of  intelligence ;  but  that  all  injury  to  the 
cerebrum  is  followed  by  some  lesion  of  intelligence,  per- 
ception, or  volition.  Though  the  brain  alone  is  capable 
of  manifesting  the  operations  of  mind,  yet  it  is  not  by 
any  means  universally  held  that  the  "  mental  principle  " 


212  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

resides  solely  in  the  brain.  "  It  is  possible,"  says  Miil- 
ler,  "for  the  mind  to  act  and  receive  impressions  by 
means  of  one  organ  of  detenninate  structure,  and  yet 
be  present  generally  throughout  the  body."8 

But  although  these  principles  are  generally  acknowl- 
edged, it  is  less  understood  that  the  brain,  as  an  organ, 
is  subject  to  precisely  the  same  laws,  chemical,  dynamic, 
and  automatic,  as  other  organs  and  tissues,  though  physi- 
ology teaches  this  fact  as  strongly  as  any  other.  Thus 
it  is  readily  granted  that  the  action  of  a  muscle  tends  to 
the  increase  of  the  circulation  in  its  tissue,  and,  if  long 
continued,  to  the  hypertrophy  or  increase  of  its  sub- 
stance. The  same  phenomenon  takes  place  in  the  pas- 
sive tissues,  as  the  skin,  bones,  tendons,  and  ligaments ; 
whenever  often-repeated  pressure  or  tension  is  exercised 
upon  these,  their  substance  is  developed  in  proportion  to 
the  requirements  of  the  case. 

It  is  also  not  disputed  that  every  action  of  the  body 
is  attended  by  the  phenomena  of  nutrition,  including  the 
decomposition  of  some  of  the  old  tissue,  and  the  supply 
of  its  place  by  new  particles,  and  that  the  evidences  of 
such  decomposition  in  the  blood  and  the  excretions  are 
in  exact  ratio  to  the  energy  and  continuity  of  such  ac- 
tions. But  although  the  laws  of  nutrition  are  in  as 
active  operation  in  the  brain  as  in  any  part  of  the  sys- 
tem, we  find  it  at  first  difficult  to  realize  the  fact  so  well 
established  by  irrefragable  physiological  evidence,  Unit 
these  acts  of  nutrition  are  in  their  essence  the  necessary 
conditions  of  every  act  of  intelligence,  perception,  or 
volition  ;  that,  "  like  all  other  tissues  actively  concerned 
in  the  vital  operations,  nervous  matter  is  subject  to  a 
waste  or  disintegration,  which  bears  an  exact  proportion 
to  the  activity  of  its  operations  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that 
every  act  of  the  nervous  system  involves  the  death  and 
decay  of  a  certain  amount  of  nervous  matter,  the  re- 


BODY  V.   MIND.  213 

placement  of  which  will  be  requisite  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  system  in  a  state  fit  fos  action"  ;4  in  short,  that 
every  idea,  every  emotion,  every  act  of  volition  and 
everv  perception,  however  passive  or  fleeting,  is  necessa- 
rily attended  by  a  waste  and  decay  of  a  certain  portion 
of  the  brain-tissue.  The  author  just  quoted  continues 
thus  :  "  In  the  healthy  state  of  the  body,  when  the  ex- 
ertion of  the  nervous  system  by  day  does  not  exceed 
that  which  the  repose  of  the  night  may  compensate,  it 
is  maintained  in  a  condition  which  fits  it  for  moderate 
constant  exercise ;  but  unusual  demands  upon  its  powers 

—  whether  by  the  long-continued  and  severe  exercise  of 
the  intellect,  by  excitement  of  the  emotions,  or  by  the 
combination  of  both  in  that  state  of  anxiety  which  the 
circumstances  of  man's  condition  too  frequently  induce 

—  produce  an  unusual   waste,   which  requires  for  the 
restoration  of  its  powers  a  prolonged  repose." 

It  is  certainly  inexplicable  how  matter  and  mind  can 
act  and  react  one  upon  the  other :  the  mystery  is  ac- 
knowledged by  all  to  be  insolvable,  and  will  probably 
ever  remain  so ;  the  co-ordinate  phenomena,  however,  are 
open  to  investigation,  and  it  is  clearly  ascertained  that  to 
certain  mental  conditions  a  certain  state  of  the  material 
organ  is  attached,  and  for  certain  mental  acts  certain 
chemical  changes  in  this  organ  are  requisite. 

The  tendency  of  the  speculations  of  the  present  day 
(1869)  is  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  of  the  difficulty  here 
alluded  to,  by  recognizing  only  one  essence.  The  mental 
condition  is  the  state  of  the  material  organ,  and  the 
chemical  changes  in  the  organ  are  the  source  of  the 
mental  acts.  "  Mind  can  only  be  studied,  with  any  pros- 
pect of  advantage,  by  the  physiological  method,"  says 
Dr.  Maudesley.5  Professor  Huxley  is  still  more  precise. 
He  says 6  "  that  all  vital  action  may  be  said  to  be  the 
result  of  the  molecular  forces  of  the  protoplasm  which 


214  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

displays  it.  And  if  so,  it  must  be  true,  in  the  same 
sense  and  to  the  same  extent,  that  the  thoughts  to 
which  I  am  now  giving  utterance,  and  your  thoughts 
regarding  them,  are  the  expression  of  the  molecular 
changes  in  that  matter  of  life  which  is  the  source  of 

our  other  vital  phenomena After  all,  what  do  we 

know  of  that  '  spirit '  over  whose  threatened  extinction 
by  matter  a  great  lamentation  is  arising,  ....  except 
that  it  is  a  name  for  an  unknown  and  hypothetical  cause 
or  condition,  of  states  of  consciousness  1  In  other  words, 
matter  and  spirit  are  but  names  for  the  imaginary  sub- 
strata of  groups  of  natural  phenomena."  And  again  : 
"  In  itself  it  is  of  little  moment  whether  we  express  the 
phenomena  of  matter  in  terms  of  spirit,  or  the  phenom- 
ena of  spirit  in  terms  of  matter ;  matter  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  form  of  thought ;  thought  may  be  regarded 
as  a  property  of  matter ;  each  statement  has  a  certain 
relative  truth.  But  with  a  view  to  the  progress  of  sci- 
ence the  materialistic  terminology  is  in  every  way  to  be 
preferred." 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  from  our  special  subject  to 
enter  here  upon  any  controversy  upon  this  vexed  ques- 
tion. That  it  is  much  more  important  than  the  distin- 
guished writer  just  quoted  allows,  we  firmly  hold.  It 
appears  to  us  to  involve  the  reality  or  otherwise  of  our 
hopes  of  immortality ;  but  we  content  ourselves  with 
entering  a  formal  protest  against  the  doctrine,  and  its 
annexed  idea  that  it  is  merely  a  question  of  terminology. 
It  is  true  that  for  purposes  of  discussion,  and  in  a 
physiological  point  of  view,  the  terms  Mind  and  Brain 
may  be  used  synonymously.  The  brain  is  material; 
the  mind  is,  we  conceive,  immaterial ;  yet  as  we  know 
and  can  know  nothing  abstractedly  of  mind  apart  from 
its  manifestations  through  its  material  organ,  it  is  con- 
venient occasionally  to  use  these  as  convertible  terms, 


BODY  V.   MIND.  215 

especially  when  concerned  with  laws  of  action  which 
appear  to  be  connected  with,  if  not  dependent  upon, 
material  changes.  Yet  nothing  can  be  more  certain 
than  this,  that  however  dependent  mind  may  be  for  its 
manifestations  upon  a  material  organ,  it  is  essentially 
different  in  nature.  Were  there  no  presumptive  evi- 
dence of  this  from  the  phenomena  of  memory,  imagi- 
nation, &c.,  it  would  be  supplied  abundantly  by  the 
frequent  instances  of  the  persistent  integrity  of  the 
mind  amid  the  utter  decay  of  the  bodily  organs.  "  My 
friends"  said  Anquetil,  when  his  approaching  end  was 
announced  to  him  by  his  physicians,  "  you  behold  a  man 
dying  full  of  life  1 "  On  this  expression  M.  Lordat  re- 
marks :  "It  is  indeed  an  evidence  of  the  duplicity  of 
the  dynamism  in  one  and  the  same  individual ;  a  proof 
of  the  union  of  two  active  causes  simultaneously  created, 
hitherto  inseparable,  and  the  survivor  of  which  is  the 
biographer  of  the  other."  But  we  return  to  the  subject 
from  which  this  can  only  be  viewed  as  a  digression. 

We  have  stated  above  that  the  brain  is  subject  not 
only  to  the  same  chemical  laws  of  change  as  the  other 
organs,  but  to  the  same  automatic  influences.  In  the 
same  manner  that  certain  muscular  actions,  at  first  pain- 
ful, difficult,  and  complex,  become  perfectly  easy,  and 
are  performed  almost  (if  not  altogether)  without  atten- 
tion, after  long  practice  and  frequent  repetition,  so 
processes  of  thought,  which  originally  induce  painful 
sensations,  and  confusion  in  the  mind  or  bruin,  become, 
by  repetition,  familiar  and  simple,  and  are  attended  by 
no  pain  at  the  time,  nor  any  inconvenience  subsequently. 
And  thus  the  most  complex  operations  of  the  mind,  cal- 
culations involving  the  most  intricate  processes,  and 
analyses  of  the  utmost  difficulty,  are  at  last  performed 
with  an  ease,  and  almost  unconsciousness,  rivalling  the 
extempore  performances  of  the  most  finished  artiste  on  a 


216  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

musical  instrument.  It  is  of  importance,  in  passing,  to 
mark  this.  We  pass  on  now  to  notice  briefly  the  various 
modes  in  which  mind  and  body  affect  one  another,  in 
order  to  illustrate  the  dynamism  of  the  former,  and  its 
subjection  in  many  respects  to  material  laws. 

A  due  supply  of  arterial  blood  is  requisite  for  the 
proper  action  of  the  mind.  Loss  of  consciousness  follows 
the  abstraction  of  this  stimulus.  The  quality  of  the  blood 
circulating  through  the  brain  also  influences  the  develop- 
ment of  ideas  ;  if  it  be  deficient  in  oxygen,  delirum  of 
course  follows.  "  The  digestion  of  food  introduces  a 
quantity  of  imperfectly  assimilated  material  into  the  cir- 
culation. Until  this  new  material  has  undergone  the 
necessary  changes,  and  while  certain  matters  altogether 
unfit  for  nutrition  are  mingled  with  it,  it  is  not  adapted 
to  excite  those  states  of  the  brain  which  are  necessary 
for  the  proper  manifestation  of  mind  ;  and  as  it  is  con- 
veyed to  that  organ  by  the  circulation,  it  produces  an 
injurious  change  in  it,  and  impedes  or  disturbs  the  men- 
tal functions.  Hence  the  indisposition  to  mental  labor 
experienced  by  some  persons  after  meals.7  The  same 
effects  are  produced,  in  a  more  marked  degree,  by  wine, 
spirituous  liquids,  narcotics,  and  the  presence  of  bile  or 
urea  in  the  blood.  The  organic  affections  of  the  brain 
necessarily  and  obviously  modify  the  mental  conditions, 
not  only  by  destroying  the  efficiency  of  a  certain  portion 
of  the  tissue,  but  by  interfering  with  the  due  perform- 
ance of  the  organic  changes  in  the  other  parts. 

All  this  is  sufficiently  comprehensible,  that,  the  organ 
being  deranged,  it  is  no  longer  capable  of  performing 
accurately  the  behests  of  the  mind.  It  is  much  less  so, 
how  the  derangement  of  the  immaterial  essence  can  af- 
fect the  organic  structure  ;  yet  the  fact  is  indisputable. 
The  simplest  illustration  may  be  drawn  from  an  occur- 
rence not  unfrequent  in  ordinary  experience.  A  person 


BODY   V.    MIND.  217 

in  perfect  health  receives  a  letter  containing,  perhaps, 
some  fatal  news;  he  drops  down,  smitten  with  apoplexy, 
and  after  death  it  is  found  that  the  cerebral  tissue  is  torn 
by  an  effusion  of  blood  into  its  substance.  Joyous  emo- 
tion may  produce  the  same  or  analogous  results.  A 
young  Frenchman  received  a  complimentary  letter  from 
the  Directory ;  he  was  struck  motionless,  and  his  head 
immediately  became  affected  in  a  manner  from  which  he 
never  recovered. 

The  paleness  of  skin  and  weakness  of  the  circulation 
accompanying  the  depressing  emotions  ;  blushing,  and 
other  determinations  of  blood  ;  excitement  of  the  ar- 
terial action  under  the  influence  of  anger  and  the  allied 
passions,  —  all  illustrate  powerfully  and  sufficiently  the 
dynamism  of  mind. 

The  effect  of  mental  action  is  forcibly  portrayed  hi 
Virgil's  description  of  the  Pythoness  under  inspira- 
tion :  — 

"  Her  color  changed ;  her  face  was  not  the  same, 
And  hollow  groans  from  her  deep  spirit  came. 
Her  hair  stood  up;  convulsive  rage  possessed 
Her  trembling  limbs,  and  heaved  her  laboring  breast. 
Greater  than  human  kind  she  seemed  to  look, 
And  with  an  accent  more  than  mortal  spoke ; 
Her  staring  eyes  with  sparkling  fury  roll, 
When  all  the  god  came  rushing  on  her  soul. 
At  length  her  fury  fell;  her  foaming  ceased, 
And  ebbing  in  her  soul,  the  god  decreased." 

Enough  has  now  been  adduced  to  show  the  powerful 
influence  which  states  of  mind  have  upon  the  body  ;  we 
must  now  inquire  more  particularly  what  are  the  proba- 
ble and  the  observed  effects  of  continued  mental  labor 
upon  the  physical  constitution. 

In  accordance  with  the  physiological  principles  already 
enunciated,  the  first  effect  of  laborious  thought  will  be 
an  increase  in  the  circulation  through  the  brain,  and  a 

10 


218  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

more  active  performance  of  the  nutritive  functions  in 
that  organ,  consisting  of  decay  and  replacement  of  parti- 
cles. Until  the  brain  becomes  accustomed  to  this  in- 
creased activity  of  function,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  it 
will  be  attended  with  certain  unpleasant  consequences, 
as  headache  and  confusion,  — just  as  a  person  who  has 
fatigued  one  set  of  muscles  by  hours  of  exercise  will  feel 
pain  and  stiffness  in  these  muscles,  until,  by  frequent 
repetition,  the  same  actions  are  performed  for  even  a 
greater  length  of  time  with  perfect  ease,  and  without 
any  ill  consequences  resulting.  Rest,  then,  will  (it  is  to 
be  expected  on  a  priwi  considerations)  restore  the  integ- 
rity of  the  cerebral  tissue ;  and  frequent  repetition  of  the 
same  mental  gymnastics  will  render  easy  and  pleasurable 
what  was  before  so  difficult  and  painful.  But  it  may 
be  objected  that  the  brain  is  a  very  delicate  organ,  and 
much  more  liable  to  suffer  from  over-use  than  the 
coarser  texture  of  the  muscles.  This  may  be  true  ;  yet 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  brain  is  to  be  consid- 
ered as  perfectly  adapted  to  the  performance  of  its  func- 
tions —  thought,  perception,  volition,  &c.  —  as  the 
muscles  are  to  the  performance  of  their  varied  motions ; 
and  if  the  texture  of  the  one  be  so  much  stronger  than 
that  of  the  other,  the  mechanical  injuries  to  which  it  is 
liable  are  infinitely  multiplied. 

Pursuing  the  same  expectant  reasoning,  we  shall  be 
prepared  to  meet  with  a  modification  of  the  tissue  of  the 
brain  from  continued  excited  nutrition  ;  and  owing  to  the 
peculiar  mechanical  conditions  of  this  organ,  it  can  only 
be,  as  a  general  rule,  manifested  by  an  increased  firmness 
of  texture.  Under  long-continued  application  to  one 
class  of  subjects,  we  believe  the  form  of  the  head  may  be 
altered,  even  in  the  adult.  A  friend  of  the  writer  has 
had  two  casts  taken  of  his  own  head  at  the  interval  of 
several  years,  during  which  time  he  was  entirely  devoted 


BODY  V.   MIND.  219 

to  artistic  pursuits,  which  he  had  adopted  late  in  life. 
The  contrast  between  the  two  is  very  striking  in  the 
development  of  certain  parts  of  the  forehead  and  parietal 
regions.  Functionally,  also,  we  must  of  course  expect  a 
continually  increasing  facility  and  aptitude  in  all  sorts 
of  mental  work  ;  whilst  from  the  concentration  of  the 
nervous  energy  upon  thought,  the  tendency  to  active 
exertion  will  naturally  become  more  and  more  limited. 
And  here  we  may  consider  that  we  meet  with  the  root, 
of  the  various  evils  which  have  been  so  constantly  at- 
tributed to  mind  labor.  Not  what  is  done,  but  what  is 
neglected,  seems  to  be  the  fons  ct  origo  motor um.  The 
weary  eye,  the  cramped  limb,  the  demands  of  the  body, 
—  all  are  neglected,  from  the  all-absorbing  nature  of  the 
pursuit,  and  a  train  of  evils  must  necessarily  result, 
which  are  naturally  enough,  but  perhaps  too  readily,  laid 
to  the  account  of  mental  labor,  but  which  result  with 
equal  frequency  from  all  sedentary  occupations  whatever. 
In  young  persons,  the  mode  of  response  to  stimulus 
and  requirements  on  the  part  of  the  system  is  somewhat 
different,  both  in  nature  and  extent,  from  that  observed 
in  adults.  In  early  life,  and  up  to  the  margin  of  man- 
hood, a  great  part  of  the  energy  of  the  vital  functions  is 
devoted  to  the  direct  nutrition  and  consolidation  of  the 
bodily  organs.  The  tissues  are  soft  and  yielding,  and 
are  capable  of  being  very  much  modified  by  external 
agency.  If  a  strain  of  unusual  force  be  applied',  the  re- 
sult is  not  necessarily,  as  in  the  adult,  fatigue,  which  may 
be  readily  relieved  by  rest ;  but  the  organ  yields,  and  its 
efficiency  is  impaired.  Thus  the  heart  over-excited  in  a 
child  will  become  dilated  ;  the  bone  on  which  unnatural 
pressure  is  exerted  bends;  the  ligament,  often  or  long 
stretched,  yields  and  becomes  relaxed.  Xow,  the  brain 
being  subject  to  precisely  the  same  laws  as  other  orpin*, 
as  to  nutrition,  we  shall  expect  to  find  here  also  a  differ- 


220  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ence  in  its  response  to  the  calls  made  upon  its  action. 
Long-continued  exercise  of  the  mental  functions  will  be 
attended,  as  in  the  adult,  by  increased  circulation  and 
activity  of  the  nutritive  functions  of  the  brain  ;  but  there 
is  this  difference,  that  the  brain  tissue  here  is  soft  and 
yielding,  and  instead  of  offering  the  normal  resistance  to 
the  abnormal  afflux  of  blood,  it  yields  to  the  pressure, 
the  vessels  become  enlarged,  perhaps  permanently,  and 
congestion  is  the  result,  —  productive  not  only  of  serious 
consequences  for  the  time  being,  but,  by  the  very  fact  of 
its  occurrence,  inducing  an  ever-increasing  liability  to  its 
recurrence.  Then  perhaps  the  overcharged  vessels  make 
an  attempt  to  relieve  themselves  by  pouring  out  some  of 
their  fluid  contents,  and  effusion  into  the  ventricles  or  on 
the  surface  of  the  brain  is  the  consequence.  It  is  easy 
to  conceive,  from  these  considerations,  what  is  the  lesson 
which  physiology  would  teach  us  in  reference  to  the 
consequences  which  may  be  predicted  from  intense  ap- 
plication in  the  young.  These  consequences  will  be  still 
more  marked  and  serious,  if  the  attention  be  confined 
exclusively  to  one  class  of  ideas ;  if  one  faculty  be  cul- 
tivated and  urged  forward,  to  the  exclusion  or  neglect 
of  the  others. 

The  testimony  of  writers  on  the  subject  of  the  effects 
of  mental  labor  upon  the  body  is  singularly  unanimous ; 
none  seem  to  doubt  its  dire  results,  especially  if  com- 
menced young,  if  pursued  long  and  constantly,  and  if 
directed  too  exclusively  to  a  restricted  range  of  ideas. 
Dr.  George  Moore,  who  has  entered  deeply  into  these 
inquiries,  makes  the  following  observations  :  — 

"The  brain  of  a  child,  however  forward,  is  totally 
unfit  for  that  intellectual  exertion  to  which  many  fond 
parents  either  force  or  excite  it.  Fatal  disease  is  thus 
frequently  induced  ;  and  where  death  does  not  follow, 
idiocy,  or  at  least  such  confusion  of  faculty  ensues,  that 


BODY  v.   MIND.  221 

the  moral  perception  is  obscured,  and  the  sensitive  child 
becomes  a  man  of  hardened  vice,  or  of  insane  self- 
will 

"As  the  emulative  success  of  classical  education  is 
generally  dependent  on  an  excessive  determination  of 
mind,  for  the  purpose  of  rapidly  loading  the  memory,  it 
is  of  course  attended,  for  the  most  part,  with  a  cor- 
respondent risk  to  the  nervous  system  of  aspirants  after 
academic  honors.  Mentally  speaking,  those  who  bear 
the  palm  in  severe  universities  are  often  destroyed  by  the 
effort  necessary  to  obtain  the  distinction.  Like  phos- 
phorescent insects,  their  brilliance  lasts  but  a  little  while, 
and  is  at  its  height  when  on  the  point  of  being  extin- 
guished forever.  The  laurel  crown  is  commonly  for  the 
dead,  if  not  corporeally,  yet  spiritually ;  and  those  who 
attain  the  highest  honors  of  their  Alma  Maters  are 
generally  diseased  men.8  Having  reached  the  object  of 
their  aim,  by  concentrating  their  energies  on  one  object, 
an  intellectual  palsy  too  often  succeeds,  and  their  bodies 
partake  of  the  trembling  feebleness.  .... 

"  The  strongest  brain  will  fail  under  the  continuance 
of  intense  thought.  All  persons  who  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  close  study  will  remember  the  utter  and  in- 
describable confusion  that  comes  over  the  mind  when  the 
will  has  wearied  the  brain 

"  The  modern  system  of  education  appears  to  be  alto- 
gether unchristian  ;  undoubtedly  it  contributes  much  to 
swell  the  fearful  list  of  diseases,  for  it  is  founded  on  an 
unhealthy  emulation,  which  ruins  many  both  in  body 
and  in  soul,  while  it  qualifies  none  the  better  either  for 
business,  knowledge,  usefulness,  or  enjoyment,  but  rather, 
together  with  the  influence  of  the  money  valuation  of  in- 
tellect, causes  the  most  heroic  spirits  of  the  age  to  hang 
upon  public  opinion  and  the  state  of  the  market 

"We  know  that  determination  must  vastly  excite  the 


222  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

brain,  when  the  student  or  the  statesman  is  induced,  by 
desire  for  doubtful  distinction,  to  spend  his  days  and 
nights  in  the  distractions  of  alternate  hopes  and  fears. 
Under  the  strain  of  these  conflicting  passions  how  many 
a  mighty  mind  sinks  into  insanity,  amidst  the  mysteri- 
ous darkness  of  which  some  demon  whispers  close  to  the 
ear,  '  No  hope,  no  aim,  no  use  in  life,  —  the  knife  is  now 
before  you  ! '  "  9 

These  are  frightful  accusations  against  study  and  the 
present  system  of  education ;  yet  we  quote  them  at 
length,  because  they  are  but  the  echo  and  resume  of  the 
charges  which  have  been  entered  against  such  pursuits, 
both  before  and  since  Festus  accused  Paul  of  being  mad 
through  much  learning.  Both  amongst  ancients  and 
moderns  it  has  been  the  practice  to  accuse  study  as  one 
of  the  most  frequent  causes  of  madness.  Fernelius  and 
Arculanus  enumerate  "  study,  contemplation,  and  con- 
tinual meditation  "  as  especially  tending  to  mania  ;  "  Of 
all  men,"  says  Lemnius,  "  scholars  are  most  subject  to 
it  "  ;  and  Rhasis  adds,  "  Et  illi  qui  sunt  subtilis  ingenii, 
et  multse  prsemeditationis,  de  facili  incidunt  in  melan- 
choliam."  Origanus  says  :  "  Contemplatio  cerebrum  ex- 
siccat  et  extinguit  calorem  naturalem,  unde  cerebrum 
frigidum  et  siccum  evadit  quod  est  melancholicum.  Ac- 
cedit  ad  hoc,  quod  natura  in  conternplatione,  cerebro 
prorsus  cordique  intenta,  stomachum  heparque  destituit, 
unde  ex  alimentis  male  coctis,  sanguis  crassus  et  niger 
efficitur,  dum  nimio  otio  membrorum  superflui  vaporcs 
non  exhalant."  In  this,  spite  of  its  antiquated  physiol- 
ogy, there  is  much  sound  sense,  still  indicating,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  subject  at  issue,  that  it  is  the  omissions,  not 
the  commissions,  that  are  the  chief  sources  of  evil. 
Machiavel,  however,  holds  the  direct  influence  of  study 
in  weakening  the  body,  dulling  the  spirit,  and  abating 
the  strength  and  courage.  Quaint  old  Burton  relates 


BODY   V.   MIND.  223 

that  "  a  certain  Goth,  when  his  countrymen  came  into 
Greece,  and  would  have  burned  all  their  books,  he  cried 
out  against  it,  by  no  means  they  should  do  it,  —  *  leave 
them  that  plague,  which  in  time  will  consume  all  their 
vigor  and  martial  spirits.' "  Descuret,  in  his  "  Medicina 
delle  Passioni,"  speaks  of  the  results  of  the  study-mania 
(mania  dello  studio)  as  loss  of  memory,  epilepsy,  cata- 
lepsy, madness,  sudden  and  premature  death  ;  saying 
that  "  lo  studio,  cibo  dell'  anima,  esige  per  parte  nostra 
grande  sobrieta,  se  vogliamo  che  non  si  trasformi  in 
veleno,  la  cui  azione  mediciale  non  e  meno  fimesta  al 
morale  che  al  fisico."  Few  writers  now  venture  to  speak 
of  study  with  St.  Augustine  as  "  scientia  scientiarum, 
omni  melle  dulcior,  omni  pane  suavior,  omni  vino  hi- 
larior  "  ;  or  with  another  old  worthy,  "  Studia  senectti- 
tem  oblectant,  adolescentiam  alunt,  secundas  res  ornant, 
adversis  perfugium  et  solatium  praebent,  domi  delec- 
tant,"  £c.  :  and  yet  both  these  had  tried  it  to  an  extent 
not  often  reached  in  these  modern  times.  To  return  to 
modern  writers  :  Miiller  states  as  the  physiological  ef- 
fect of  excessive  exercise  of  the  mind,  that  it  "  diminishes 
the  activity  of  the  nutritive  processes " ;  we  find  him 
remarking,  however,  shortly  afterwards,  that  "  the  cul- 
ture of  the  mind  by  observation  and  varied  attainments 
has  an  ennobling  influence  on  the  corporeal  frame,  and 
particularly  on  the  lineaments  of  the  face." 

M.  Tissot  brings  an  enormous  list  of  accusations 
against  the  over-application  of  the  mind,  with  many  in- 
teresting illustrative  cases.  A  young  gentleman  had  giv- 
en himself  up  to  metaphysical  pursuits,  which  he  pursued 
with  ardor,  notwithstanding  that  he  felt  his  health  fail- 
ing. At  last  he  fell  into  such  a  condition  that  he  ap- 
peared to  see  nothing,  hear  nothing,  and  spoke  not  a 
Word  for  the  space*  of  a  year.  He  says  that  he  has  seen 
"very  promising  children,  who  have  been  forced  to 


224  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

study  so  constantly  by  severe  masters  that  they  have  be- 
come epileptic  during  the  rest  of  their  lives."  On  this 
subject  Sir  H.  Holland  says  :  "  In  the  course  of  my  prac- 
tice I  have  seen  some  striking  melancholy  instances  of 
the  exhaustion  of  the  youthful  mind  by  this  over-exercise 
of  its  faculties.  In  two  of  them,  unattended  by  any 
paralytic  affection,  or  other  obvious  bodily  disorder  than 
a  certain  sluggishness  in  the  natural  functions,  the  tor- 
por of  mind  approached  almost  to  imbecility.  Yet  here 
there  had  been  before  acute  intellect,  with  great  sensi- 
bility, but  these  qualities  forced  by  emulation  into  ex- 
cess of  exercise  without  due  intervals  of  respite,  and 
with  habitual  deficiency  of  sleep." 

Galen  mentions  a  grammarian  who  was  seized  with  an 
epileptic  fit  when  teaching  or  thinking  intently ;  and 
Hoffman  mentions  a  young  man  who  had  a  momentary 
fit  whenever  his  mind  or  his  memory  wras  overloaded. 
Petrarch  suffered  in  a  similar  manner.  The  evils  charged 
further  by  M.  Tissot  upon  intense  study  are  gout,  pre- 
mature baldness  and  gray  hairs,  phantasms,  delirium, 
mania ;  "  tumors,  aneurisms,  inflammations,  scirrhosities, 
ulcers,  dropsies,  headaches,  drowsiness,  convulsions,  leth- 
argy, apoplexies,  and  the  want  of  sleep,"  besides  many 
other  secondary  results. 

But  it  is  time  to  leave  this  enumeration  of  evils,  and 
to  inquire  with  what  amount  of  justice  they  are  attrib- 
uted to  mental  work,  —  under  what  counts  of  the  in- 
dictment Mind  must  plead  guilty,  —  whether  there  are 
any,  and  what,  extenuating  circumstances,  —  to  what 
the  verdict  of  not  guilty,  or  at  least  not  proven,  must  be 
returned,  —  and  whether  there  may  be  found  some  rem- 
edy of  easy  application  for  the  evils  which  confessedly 
exist,  however  caused. 

We  will  commence  with  an  examination  into  the 
circumstances  connected  with  education  in  early  life, 


BODY  v.   MIND.  225 

suppose  up  to  the  age  of  fifteen.  It  is  not  to  be  de- 
nied, and  we  have  already  given  in  our  adhesion  to  the 
opinion,  that  intense  study  in  early  life  is  likely  to  be 
very  hurtful  in  its  consequences  ;  and  the  practice  of 
forcing  and  urging  the  faculties  of  children  into  prema- 
ture development  cannot  be  too  strongly  and  earnestly 
deprecated.  Yet  we  believe  that  this  practice  is  by  no 
means  so  common  as  has  been  represented. 

The  writer  is  intimately  connected  with  one  large  es- 
tablishment where  upwards  of  two  hundred  youths  from 
eight  to  twenty  years  of  age  are  educated ;  the  induce- 
ments to  study  and  to  excel  are  strong  and  valuable, 
but  the  discipline  is  mild  and  judicious.  During  ten 
years  of  careful  observation,  he  can  recall  but  three  or 
four  instances  of  any  injury  resulting  from  severe  men- 
tal application  :  none  in  which  more  than  a  temporary 
cessation  from  study  has  been  requisite,  and,  with  one 
exception,  all  occurring  in  subjects  where  there  was 
every  reason  to  suspect  a  morbidly  excitable  organization. 
The  exception  was  that  of  a  naturally  very  dull  boy, 
with  a  strong  desire  to  overcome  difficulties,  which,  in 
fact,  were  only  such  to  him. 

That  children  are  overworked  occasionally  is  notorious  ; 
but  for  this  there  are  other  causes  in  operation  besides 
either  force  or  the  principle  of  emulation.  The  recent 10 
publication  of  the  regulations  of  the  University  of  Ox- 
ford, "  Concerning  the  examination  of  those  who  are  not 
f  members  of  the  University,"  may  fairly  be  supposed  to 
furnish  an  average  standard  of  the  requirements  of  edu- 
cation for  boys  under  fifteen  and  young  men  under 
eighteen ;  and  a  perusal  of  these  will  at  once  show  that 
boys  of  average  capacity  need  exert  no  extraordinary 
pressure  in  preparation.  Reading,  writing  from  dicta- 
tion, parsing,  short  composition,  and  the  first  four  rules 
of  arithmetic,  are  the  substance  of  the  first  five  articles ; 
10*  o 


226  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

the  sixth  and  seventh  comprise  a  very  elementary  knowl- 
edge of  geography  and  English  history.  Eight  subjects 
are  then  given  for  selection;  the  candidate  must  he  ex- 
amined in  one  at  least,  and  not  in  more  than  four,  to  be 
chosen  by  himself.  Latin,  Greek,  French,  and  German 
are  the  first  four  subjects,  in  each  of  which  the  exercise 
is  simply  the  translation  and  parsing  of  a  passage  in  one 
of  the  most  elementary  school-books,  and,  in  all  but 
Greek,  the  translation  of  an  English  passage  into  the 
others.  The  fifth  is  mathematics,  including  the  first 
two  books  of  Euclid,  arithmetic,  and  simple  equations. 
Sixth,  elementary  mechanics.  Seventh,  chemistry. 
Eighth,  botany  and  zoology.  In  all  this  there  is  nothing 
very  oppressive,  even  if  required  from  boys  of  thirteen 
rather  than  fifteen  ;  but  of  course  the  curriculum  of  many 
of  our  schools  is  very  much  more  comprehensive  than 
this ;  and  in  them  we  meet  not  unfrequently  with  over- 
tasked brains,  and  the  consecutive  train  of  evils.  But 
how  has  this  been  brought  about  ]  Is  it  necessarily  by 
compulsion,  or  the  goad  of  emulation,  or  may  there  not 
be  a  much  deeper  source  of  the  evil  1 

Two  boys,  brothers,  enter  a  large  school,  are  placed 
on  the  same  form,  and  are  subject  to  the  same  regula- 
tions, the  same  tasks,  the  same  inducements.  One  is 
studious,  cares  little  for  out-door  amusements,  and  per- 
haps breaks  down  in  health  even  before  accomplishing 
the  object  of  his  ambition.  The  other  is  more  given  to 
sport  or  play  than  to  work  :  he  may  be  a  blockhead ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  may  take  a  respectable  or  even  a 
high  position.  The  question  may  fairly  be  asked, 
""Whence  arose  this  difference]"  Not,  clearly,  la-cause 
one  was  goaded,  and  the  other  not.  Why  did  the  first 
boy  prefer  his  books  to  the  football  or  cricket  ?  Plainly 
because  his  organi/ation  was  weaker  in  stamina  than 
that  of  the  other  ;  exertion  of  an  active  character  was  a 


BODY  V.    MIND.  227 

toil ;  the  mind  or  the  body  must  be  occupied,  and  as  he 
cannot  exert  the  one,  the  other  must  bear  the  burden. 
On  some  occasion,  by  momentary  excitement,  he  is 
drawn  into  some  arduous  play.  Look  at  him  when  it  is 
over.  He  sits  down  upon  a  stone,  or  leans  against  a 
wall,  his  face  almost  ghastly  in  its  pallor,  his  hand 
pressed  to  his  side,  his  temples  throbbing,  and  gasping 
for  breath.  He  returns  to  his  books,  to  which  he 
thenceforth  clings  as  his  best  friends  ;  yet  this  mischief 
is  not  the  result  of  his  mental  application,  both  the  one 
and  the  other  are  the  result  of  a  feeble  physical  frame, 
which  is  now  undergoing  a  process  of  probation,  of 
which  none  can  predict  the  termination.  He  may  break 
down,  or  he  may  become  an  intellectual  giant  ;  but, 
should  the  former  be  the  case,  study,  for  which  he  was 
apparently  better  fitted  than  for  anything  else,  can 
scarcely  be  blamed.  Would  not  an  active  life  have  been 
a  still  shorter  one1?  For  such  constitutions  there  is 
much  hope,  if  they  can  be  placed  under  intelligent  care, 
and  individually  watched,  guarded,  and  assisted  ;  but 
amongst  the  masses  this  is  as  a  rule  impracticable  ;  there 
is  no  resource  but  the  school,  where  general  laws  must 
be  in  force  ;  and  it  is  a  question  whether,  were  the 
standard  of  requirements  lower,  this  individual  class  of 
mind  would  be  less  subject  to  pressure. 

We  have  nothing  to  say  on  the  subject  of  cramming 
the  minds  of  mere  infants  with  heterogeneous  learning. 
The  evils  of  such  a  course  are  utterly  incalculable,  but 
so  obvious  that  those  who  do  not  instinctively  recognize 
them  would  most  probably  be  impervious  to  any  argu- 
ment. The  stunted  and  deformed  mind  and  body  of 
the  child  will  presently  furnish  a  reproach  bitter  enough, 
and  a  lesson  too  late  to  be  practical.  There  are,  how- 
ever, certain  exceptional  cases  on  record,  proving  that 
extreme  precocity  is  not  necessarily  and  invariably  con- 


228  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

nected  with  early  decay.  One  such  is  that  of  the  archae- 
ologist Visconti,  who  died  in  1818,  aged  sixty-seven. 
He  knew  his  alphabet  at  eighteen  months  old,  and  could 
read  Latin  and  Greek  fluently  before  completing  his 
fourth  year.  Bcntham  read  Rapin's  "  England  "  when 
three  years  old,  and  at  eight  was  a  proficient  on  the 
violin.  He  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty -five.  Goethe, 
Scott,  and  Franklin,  each  in  early  childhood  evinced  de- 
cided indications  of  the  talents  for  which  they  were  dis- 
tinguished in  after  life.  Two  of  them  lived  to  extreme 
old  age,  and  the  third  to  sixty-two.  Many  other  in- 
stances might  be  adduced,  but  these  are  sufficient  to 
illustrate  the  principle. 

There  is  one  other  consideration  of  extreme  impor- 
tance to  be  urged  in  extenuation  of  the  morbid  influence 
supposed  to  be  exerted  by  early  mental  culture  upon 
life  and  character.  We  have  in  the  preceding  essay 
pointed  out  that  in  certain  portions  of  all  classes  of  so- 
ciety there  are  elements  of  degeneration  at  work,  tend- 
ing to  the  extinction  of  races  or  families.  We  are  per- 
petually meeting  with  the  last  term  of  these  vanishing 
series,  and  witnessing  the  circumstances  attendant  upon 
their  final  disappearance.  Young  people  in  all  ranks, 
with  and  without  education,  die  daily,  the  victims  of 
these  hereditary  influences  ;  certainly,  we  may  affirm, 
with  much  greater  proportional  frequency  in  those 
classes  where  education  is,  and  must  necessarily  be,  the 
exception  rather  than  the  rule.  When  those  die  whose; 
minds  have  been  left  to  lie  fallow,  we  attribute  their 
death  probably  to  the  real  cause  ;  but  under  circum- 
stances of  individual  taint  precisely  similar,  when  the 
studious  child  dies,  we  ascribe  the  event  to  his  studies 
in  great  measure.  It  is  a  noteworthy  phenomenon,  that 
sminnjrst  these  degenerate  beings,  previous  to  extinction, 
there  is  often  a  remarkable  development  of  certain  facul- 


BODY  v.   MIND.  229 

ties,  amounting  to  genius.  This  is  alluded  to  in  a  pus- 
sage  from  M.  Morel's  work,  previously  noticed  :  — 

"II  existe  des  individus  qui  resumeiit  dans  leur  per- 
sonne  les  dispositions  organiques  vicieuses  de  plusieurc 
generations  anterieurs. 

"  Un  developpement  assez  remarquable  de  certaines 
facultes  pent  quelquefois  donner  le  change  sur  1'avenir 
de  ces  malades  ;  mais  leur  existence  intellectuelle  est 
circonscrite  dans  certaines  limites  qu'ils  ne  peuvent 
franchir." 

Such  cases  as  these  have  generally  a  short  and  bril- 
liant career  ;  and  it  is  of  such  that  the  remark  is  so  fre- 
quently made,  "  What  promise  of  future  greatness  is 
here  nipped  in  the  bud  !  "  Than  this  nothing  can  be  as 
a  rule  more  mistaken,  —  the  fiat  of  early  dissolution  is 
written  on  the  degenerate  organism  ;  a  lurid  phosphores- 
cent light  accompanies  its  decay,  a  light  of  which  decay 
is  as  necessary  a  condition  as  is  the  marsh  to  the  ignis 
fatuus ;  and  if  by  any  means  this  downward  tendency 
be  stopped,  it  is  extremely  rare  that  the  autumn  of  life 
fulfils  the  promise  of  its  spring.  The  life  is  short,  not 
because  the  intellectual  development  is  precocious  or 
forced,  but  it  is  short  and  bright  from  a  common  cause 
deeply  ingrained  in  the  original  exceptional  organization. 

There  are,  however,  certain  unhappy  cases  where  the 
ambition  for  intellectual  distinction  is  directly  concerned 
in  destroying  health  ;  these  are  they  where  the  ability 
is  not  equal  to  the  aspirations,  and  where  the  feeling  of 
incompetence  leads  continually  to  more  and  more  stren- 
uous exertions.  The  boy  of  talents  below  mediocrity, 
and  with  a  strong  desire  (from  whatever  motive)  to  excel 
in  certain  pursuits,  is  indeed  in  a  pitiable  case,*  and  will 
rarely  escape  serious  injury.  And  this  is  by  no  means 

*  The  case  is  strictly  analogous  to  that  of  a  weakly  or  lame  bov 
wishing  to  excel  in  running  or  jumping;  a  sad  instance  of  which  kin.! 
of  perverted  vanity  was  observed  in  Byron. 


230  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

confined  to  early  life.  We  know  of  few  more  melancholy 
objects  for  contemplation  than  a  man)  or,  as  it  very 
frequently  happens  too,  a  woman)  inspired  with  a  love  for 
a  certain  art, — poetry,  painting,  or  music;  mistaking 
this  love  for  talent,  and  wearing  out  life  in  hopeless  ef- 
forts at  performance,  —  ever  failing,  yet  sometimes  hap- 
pily unconscious  of  the  failure ;  trying  again  and  again, 
yet  ever  again  coming  far  short  of  even  their  own  im- 
perfect ideal,  —  finally  succumbing,  worn  out  by  con- 
stant attrition  against  the  rock  of  the  impossible.  How 
many  of  these  bruised  and  broken  spirits  will  the  ex- 
perience of  every  thoughtful  and  observant  man  suggest 
to  him  ! 

If  v>e  now  inquire  more  particularly  into  the  circum- 
stances attendant  upon  University  education,  and  the 
charges  brought  against  the  severity  of  the  requirements 
for  high  honors,  we  shall  find  that  very  much  the  same 
limitations  are  requisite  in  our  adoption  of  these  views 
as  in  the  case  of  children.  Men  sink  urder  the  course, 
not  from  the  direct  influence  of  mental  application,  but 
because  they  have  not  the  stamina  to  bear  even  mod- 
erate exercise  of  the  mind  ; —  because  they  are  of  degen- 
erate constitution,  favoring  irregular  circulation  and  con- 
gestions ;  —  because,  being  such,  their  aspirations  are 
too  high  for  their  powers,  —  and  because,  feeling  all 
this,  they  are  prone  to  neglect  the  most  ordinary  rules 
of  hygiene.  The  pale,  timid  student,  who  labors  under 
continual  fear  of  being  plucked,  and  by  night  and  by 
day  crams  his  mind  with  all  sorts  of  miaoellaneoufl 
knowledge,  which  it  would  require  a  much  more  power- 
ful intellect  to  analyze  and  arrange, — he  can  with  no 
justice  be  held  up  as  a  proof  that  the  requirements  of 
his  University  are  too  hiuli. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  with  any  accuracy 
what  proportion  of  our  youth  do  break  down  under  the 


BODY  V.   MIND.  231 

strain  on  mind  and  body  attendant  upon  the  reading  for 
honors.  We  are  not  disposed  to  deny  that  many  such 
instances  do  occur  ;  but  still  we  must  maintain  that  not 
what  is  done,  but  what  is  left  undone,  is  to  blame.  The 
woodman,  every  now  and  then,  pauses  to  sharpen  his 
axe  :  let  him  neglect  this,  and  continue  striking  against 
the  unyielding  tree  with  his  blunt  instrument,  and  by 
and  by  it  breaks.  Hear  how  Ficiiius  comments  upon 
the  thoughtlessness  of  the  bookworm  :  — 

"  Solers  quilibet  artifex  instrumenta  sua  diligentissime 
curat,  penicillos  pictor ;  malleos  incudesque  faber  ferra- 
rius ;  miles  equos,  arma  venator,  auceps  aves  et  canes, 
cytharam  cytharo3dus,  &c.  ;  soli  musarum  mystse  tarn 
negligentes  sunt,  ut  instrumentum  illud  quo  mundum 
universum  metiri  solent,  spiritum  scilicet,  penitus  neg- 
ligere  videantur." 

But  is  not  the  alarm  on  this  score  even  too  great] 
An  able  writer,  from  whom  we  have  already  quoted, 
answers  this  question  very  positively  :  — 

"  The  mothers  and  merchants  of  England  need  not  be 
in  so  much  alarm  for  the  sanitary  condition  or  the  prac- 
tical character  of  the  promising  sons  whom  they  may 
have  committed  to  the  English  University  system. 
Reading  men  at  the  Universities,  taken  as  a  class,  are  so 
far  from  being  reckless  about  the  state  of  their  bodies, 
that  they  are  generally  very  careful  of  their  health. 
They  are  more  regular  than  other  men  in  their  hours 
and  in  their  exercise,  more  abstemious  in  their  diet, 
more  free  from  vicious  habits  which  injure  the  constitu- 
tion. They  imitate  the  candidates  for  the  Olympic 
wreath  in  their  sobriety  and  continence,  if  not  in  the 
more  active  part  of  their  training.  We  will  venture  to 
say  nobody  would  know  them  from  their  fellows  by  their 
cadaverous  appearance.  They  have  among  them,  as  far 
as  our  observation  extends,  at  least  their  fair  proportion 


232  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

of  men  who  follow  the  motto,  '  to  be  ever  foremost '  in 
the  cricket-field,  the  boat-race,  and  the  tennis-court,  as 
well  as  in  the  Senate-house  or  the  Schools.  So  for  from 
being  taught  by  their  preceptors  to  strain  their  minds  to 
the  utmost,  and  take  no  care  of  then*  bodies,  they  are 
constantly  warned  of  the  necessity  of  keeping  them- 
selves in  good  physical  order  by  tutors,  private  tutors, 
friends,  and  all  who  are  interested  in  their  success. 
Men  have  the  wit  to  see  that  good  health  and  spirits  are 
necessary  to  carry  them  through  the  labors  of  an  ex- 
amination, and  that  they  cannot  study  to  any  purpose 
without  a  clear  head,  or  secure  a  clear  head  without  a 
good  digestion  and  sound  sleep.  We  believe  the  life  of 
a  regular  reading  man  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  with  his 
eight  hours'  work  a  day  (and  no  more  is  needed  for  high 
honors),  his  daily  air  and  exercise,  his  cheerful  society, 
and  his  reading  party  in  the  Highlands  or  at  the  seaside 
in  the  long  vacation,  to  be  as  healthy  a  life  as  any,  —  at 
least  as  healthy  as  life  in  a  counting-house  or  a  solicitor's 
office.  If  there  is  a  little  exhaustion  immediately  after 
the  last  examination,  three  months  with  a  knapsack 
amongst  the  Alps  generally  sets  all  right  again.  The 
victims  of  wet  towels  and  strong  green  tea  are,  generally, 
not  regular  reading  men,  but  gentlemen  who  have  been 
devoting  themselves  exclusively  to  their  physical  de- 
velopment till  within  a  few  weeks  of  their  *  Little  Go/ 
and  are  compelled,  at  last,  to  put  on  the  steam  in  pre- 
paring for  that  event.  Of  course,  men  are  sometimes 
fools  enough  to  overwork  themselves  at  classics  and 
mathematics,  as  there  are  sometimes  fools  enough  to 
overwork  themselves  at  law  or  physic;  but  for  one  man 
who  has  been  injmvd  by  reading  at  the  I'liivcrsity,  we 
think  we  could  point  to  two  who  have  been  injured  by 
boat-racing,  and  four  who  have  been  injured  by  intem- 
perance and  the  other  vices  to  which  idleness  leads. 


BODY  v.   MIND.  233 

"  University  education  is  very  apt  to  get  the  credit  of 
destroying  constitutions  which,  in  point  of  fact,  it  only 
finds  weak  and  leaves  as  it  found  them.  A  man  who 
comes  up  to  Oxford  or  Cambridge  with  a  confirmed  and 
hereditary  tendency  to  consumption  will  not  be  saved 
by  his  Oxford  or  Cambridge  accomplishments  from  sink- 
ing into  an  early  grave.  Nor  must  a  man  expect  that 
by  having  taken  a  good  class  he  will  be  rendered  phys- 
ically equal  to  employments  to  which  he  and  everybody 
connected  with  him  would  otherwise  have  known  that 
he  was  physically  unequal.  A  sickly  and  sensitive  youth 
shows  intellectual  power,  and  gets  a  good  place  in  the 
class  list.  Immediately,  he  or  his  friends  take  it  into 
their  heads  that  he  is  to  be  Lord  Chancellor ;  and  he  is 
sent,  as  Lord  Eldon  said,  to  '  live  like  a  hermit  and  work 
like  a  horse,'  in  order  to  realize  that  moderate  object  of 
ambition.  Being  by  nature  absolutely  incapable  either 
of  living  like  a  hermit  or  of  working  like  a  horse,  he  of 
course  breaks  down  ;  and  then  his  failure  is  attributed 
to  University  education.  If  the  poet  Cowper  had  been, 
as  he  well  might  have  been,  a  classical  first-classman  at 
Oxford  or  Cambridge,  instead  of  being  brought  up  in 
the  most  practical  way  in  a  lawyer's  office,  Oxford  or 
Cambridge  would  have  borne  the  blame  of  his  inability 
to  pass  his  life  cheerfully  in  lonely  chambers  in  the 
Temple,  and  to  compete  with  hard  strong  natures  in  the 
trying  arena  of  the  Bar.  The  fact  is,  that  thes*e  men  do 
not  lose  physical  power  by  being  put  through  a  good 
course  of  reading,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  never 
had  the  physical  power  to  lose.  They  gain  intellectual 
power,  which  they  might  otherwise  have  never  pos- 
sessed, and  are  thereby  enabled  to  be  at  least  of  some 
use  to  the  world." 

It  must  not  be  denied,  however,  that  the  tests  applied 
at  the  present  day  in  our  principal  Universities,  to  ascer- 


234  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

tain  the  attainments  of  their  alumni,  are  serious  matters, 
—  so  serious  that  men  should  have  a  firm  conviction  of 
their  strength  before  entering  so  arduous  an  arena. 
Strong,  healthy  mind,  good  working  constitution,  temper- 
ance in  every  respect,  even  in  work,  —  all  these  are  es- 
sentially requisite.  For  the  brain  tissue  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  these  workers  is  still  in  a  condition  not  so  inured 
and  habituated  to  work  that  it  has  become  easy,  and 
even  second  nature,  —  it  is  still  labor. 

Perhaps  it  will  not  lead  us  too  far  from  our  principal 
design  to  take  a  survey,  as  brief  as  the  nature  of  the 
subject  will  permit,  of  the  sort  of  ordeal  through  which 
the  candidates  for  honors  at  the  Universities  of  Cam- 
bridge, Oxford,  and  London  have  to  pass,  chiefly  as  con- 
nected with  the  B.  A. 

The  first  to  which  we  open  is  the  Senate-house  exami- 
nation, in  January  last,  at  Cambridge,  —  the  Mathe- 
matical Tripos.  Three  hours  in  the  morning  of  the  first 
day  are  allowed  for  the  answering  of  twelve  questions, 
such  as  the  following  (No.  8)  :  — 

"  Prove  that  in  the  parabola  SY2  =  SP  .  SA.- 

"  A  circle  is  described  on  the  latus  rectum  as  diameter, 
and  a  common  tangent  QP  is  drawn  to  it  and  the  para- 
bola ;  show  that  SP,  SQ,  make  equal  angles  with  the 
latus  rectum." 

The  mathematician  will  see,  that  although  there  is 
nothing  very  obscure  in  this,  yet  the  labor  of  answering 
twelve  such  questions  in  three  hours  requires  a  clear 
head,  a  ready  method,  great  previous  practice,  and  last, 
though  by  no  means  least,  a  hand  of  almost  lightning 
velocity,  merely  to  do  the  mechanical  part.  It  is  true 
that  the  examiners  state,  if  asked,  that  all  tlie  questions 
need  not  lie  answered,  -  —  that  more  are  asked  to  give 
variety,  and  to  afford  equal  opportunities  to  different  or- 
ders of  students ;  yet  the  aspirant  after  the  highest  hon- 


BODY   V.   MIND.  235 

ors  will  strive  after  all :  we  know  of  instances  where  all 
has  been  accomplished  ;  yet  the  labor  is  prodigious. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  two  hours  and  a 
half  were  devoted  to  twelve  other  questions;  the  one 
following  is  but  the  half  of  No.  10  :  — 

"  Prove  the  formula 

Cos.  (A  —  B)  =  cos.  A.  cos.  B  -|-  sin.  A  sin.  B. 
A  being  greater  than  B,  and  each  angle  less  than  90°." 

On  the  second  day,  the  same  hours  were  devoted  to 
twenty-four  other  questions,  of  which  one  must  serve  as 
a  specimen,  it  being  neither  more  nor  less  elaborate  than 
the  rest :  — 

"  A  ray  of  light  passes  through  a  prism  in  a  plane  per- 
pendicular to  its  edge ;  show  that  if  <£  and  ^  be  the 
angles  of  incidence  and  emergence,  and  i  the  refracting 
angle  of  the  prism,  the  deviation  is  equal  to 

$  ±  ^  —  i,  or  ty  —  $  —  *, 

according  as  the  incident  ray  makes  an  acute  angle  with 
the  face  of  the  prism  towards  the  thicker  end  or  the 
edge.  Under  what  convention  will  these  expressions  for 
the  deviation  be  all  represented  by  <£  -f-  ^  —  i,  and 
with  this  convention  for  what  value  of  <£  will  \^  change 
sign  1 " 

On  the  third  day  the  same,  except  that  in  the  after- 
noon there  were  twenty-two  questions,  of  such  a  nature 
and  complexity  that  it  appears  utterly  impossible  that 
the  demonstrations  to  one  half  of  them  could  even  be 
copied  out  by  the  quickest  stenographer.11 

Five  more  days  were  similarly  occupied,  but  it  would 
scarcely  interest  the  general  reader  to  follow  the  course 
minutely. 

Meanwhile  the  classical  tripos  requires  the  translation 
of  Greek  and  Latin  into  English,  and  vice  versa ;  the 
conversion  of  a  passage  from  Marlowe's  "  Queen  of  Car- 


236  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

thaire  "  into  Greek  Iambics  and  another  into  Greek  Hex- 
ameters ;  a  passage  from  Cowley,  into  Latin  Hexameters ; 
four  verses  of  the  "  Hymn  to  Light,"  into  Latin  Lyrics, 
&c.,  &c. ;  and  an  elaborate  series  of  historical  and  philo- 
logical questions.1'2 

These  are  mental  gymnastics  of  no  light  order,  and  he 
who  can  come  out  of  the  ordeal  unscathed  and  with  an 
honorable  position,  has  shown  himself,  ipso  facto,  to  be 
great.  It  has  been  very  frequently  urged  that  those 
men  who  have  attained  the  highest  University  rank  have 
rarely  been  distinguished  in  after  life.  We  are  not  pre- 
pared to  disprove  a  statement  which  has  been  reiterated 
until  it  has  almost  become  a  recognized  dogma ;  but 
neither  can  we  receive  it  as  wholly  true.  Are  we  mis- 
taken in  supposing  that  Sir  R.  Peel  was  almost  at  the 
top  of  the  academic  tree  1  And  probably  many  other  of 
our  ablest  statesmen,  could  we  but  refer  conveniently  to 
their  earlier  history.  Yet  even  supposing  it  to  be  the 
case,  that  the  world  hears  little  subsequently  of  the 
senior  wranglers  and  the  "  double  first  "  men,  is  it  neces- 
sarily because  health  and  intellect  are  ruined  1  Rather 
may  we  suppose  that  the  studious  and  literary  habits 
acquired  during  years  of  close  application  have  induced 
tastes  and  feelings  utterly  opposed  to  the  wear  and  tear 
of  public  life  ;  and  that  the  men  thus  trained  prefer 
rather  to  occupy  themselves  with  the  facts  and  specula- 
tions of  nature  and  philosophy,  than  to  take  part  in  the 
troublous  warfare  of  politics  or  polemics.18 

Are  these  requirements  then,  as  has  been  so  often  said, 
too  severe  1  Of  the  most  weighty  order  they  are  certain- 
ly ;  but  we  must  hesitate  before  pronouncing  them  to  be 
too  much  so.  What  indeed  is  a  test  of  this  nature  in- 
tended for,  if  not  to  distinguish  between  man  and  man  !\ 
Crowds  of  men  could  pass  through  a  lighter  ordeal  with 
perhaps  equal  merit  and  distinction  ;  and  from  the  nature 


BODY  V.   MIND.  237 

of  things  it  is  inevitable  that  the  severity  of  the  test 
must  be  increased  till  the  few  can  be  sifted  from  the 
many.  Moreover,  we  must  remember  that  the  honor  is 
for  those  who  can  fulfil  the  conditions,  not  for  those  who 
cannot ;  —  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  the  strong 
and  clear-minded  man  and  the  one  who  is  capable  of 
much  hard  work  ;  for  such  men  are  wanted  in  the  world, 
as  well  as  the  strong-limbed  and  hard-handed.  All 
minds  cannot  accomplish  the  same  feats,  no  more  than 
all  physical  frames  can  rival  the  material  development 
of  a  Lydon  or  a  Tetraides.  The  following  is  from  a  re- 
cent leader  in  the  Times,  and  well  illustrates  the  various 
kinds  of  work  and  constitution  :  — 

"  There  is  perhaps  no  man  living  of  whom  more  feats 
of  labor  and  triumphs  over  the  frail  physique  of  humanity 
are  recorded  than  of  Lord  Brougham.  Legends  of  this 
sort  have  gathered  round  him  like  a  Hercules.  There  is 
a  legend  that  he  once  worked  six  continuous  days  —  i.  e. 
144  hours  —  without  sleep,  that  he  then  rushed  down 
to  his  country  lodgings,  slept  all  Saturday  night,  all 
Sunday,  all  Sunday  night,  and  was  waked  by  his  valet 
on  Monday  morning  to  resume  the  responsibilities  of  life 
and  commence  the  work  of  the  next  week.  A  man  must, 
of  course,  have  a  superhuman  constitution  who  can  do, 
we  will  not  say  this  particular  feat,  which  is  perhaps 
mythical,  but  feats  of  this  class,  and  probably  the  great- 
ness of  our  great  men  is  quite  as  much  a  bodily  affair  as 
a  mental  one.  Nature  has  presented  them  not  only  with 
extraordinary  minds,  but  —  what  has  quite  as  much  to 
do  with  the  matter — with  wonderful  bodies.  What 
can  a  man  do  without  a  constitution,  —  a  working  con- 
stitution ?  He  is  laid  on  the  shelf  from  the  day  he  is 
born.  .For  him  no  munificent  destiny  reserves  the  (Jreat 
Seal,  or  the  Rolls,  or  the  Chief  Justiceship,  or  the  lead- 
ership of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  Treasury,  or  the 


238  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

Admiralty,  or  the  Horse  Guards,  the  Home  Office,  or  the 
Colonies.  The  Church  may  promote  him,  for  it  does 
not  signify  to  the  Church  whether  a  man  does  his  work 
or  not,  but  the  State  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
poor  constitutionless  wretch.  He  will  not  rise  higher 
than  a  Recordership  or  a  Poor-Law  Board.  '  But,'  some- 
body will  ask,  '  has  that  pale,  lean  man,  with  a  face  like 
parchment,  and  nothing  on  his  bones,  a  constitution  1 ' 
Yes,  he  has,  —  he  has  a  working  constitution,  and  a  ten 
times  better  one  than  you,  my  good  friend,  with  your 
ruddy  face  and  strong  muscular  frame.  You  look,  in- 
deed, the  very  picture  of  health,  but  you  have,  in  real- 
ity, only  a  sporting  constitution,  not  a  working  one.  You 
do  very  well  for  the  open  air,  and  get  on  tolerably  well 
with  fine,  healthy  exercise,  and  no  strain  on  your  brain. 
But  try  close  air  for  a  wreek,  —  try  confinement,  with 
heaps  of  confused  papers  and  books  of  reference,  blue 
books,  law  books,  or  despatches  to  get  through,  and 
therefrom  extract  liquid  and  transparent  results,  and  you 
will  find  yourself  knocked  up  and  fainting,  when  the 
pale  lean  man  is  —  if  not  *  as  fresh  as  a  daisy,'  which  he 
never  is,  being  of  the  perpetual  cadaverous  kind  —  at 
least  as  unaffected  as  a  bit  of  leather,  and  not  showing 
the  smallest  sign  of  giving  way.  There  are  two  sorts 
of  good  constitutions,  —  good  idle  constitutions,  and 
good  working  ones.  When  Nature  makes  a  great  man, 
she  presents  him  with  the  latter  gift.  Not  that  we  wish 
to  deprive  our  great  men  of  their  merit.  A  man  must 
make  one  or  two  experiments  before  he  finds  out  his  con- 
stitution. A  man  of  spirit  and  metal  makes  the  experi- 
ment, tries  himself,  and  runs  the  risk,  as  a  soldier  does 
on  the  field.  The  battle  of  life  and  death  is  often  fought 
as  really  in  chambers  or  in  an  office  as  it  is  on  the  field. 
A  soul  is  required  to  make  use  of  the  body,  but  a  great 
man  must  have  a  body  as  well  as  a  soul  to  work  with. 


BODY  V.   MIND.  239 

Charles  Buller,  Sir  William  Molesworth,  and  others  are 
instances  of  men  whose  bodies  refused  to  support  their 
souls,  and  were  therefore  obliged  to  give  up  the  prize 
when  they  had  just  reached  it.  And  how  many  hun- 
dreds, or  thousands,  —  if  one  did  but  know  them,  —  per- 
ish in  an  earlier  stage,  before  they  have  made  any  way 
at  all,  simply  because,  though  they  had  splendid  minds, 
they  had  very  poor  bodies !  Let  our  lean,  cadaverous 
friend,  then,  when  the  laurel  surmounts  his  knotty  parch- 
ment face,  thank  Heaven  for  his  body,  which,  he  may  de- 
pend upon  it,  is  almost  as  great  a  treasure  as  his  soul. 
Nature  may  not  have  made  him  a  handsome  man,  but 
what  does  that  signify  1  She  has  made  him  a  strong 
one." 

With  the  examples  already  noticed,  and  many  others 
to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer,  before  us,  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  express  again  our  opinion  that,  the 
effects  of  mental  application,  even  of  a  severe  character, 
are  not  in  themselves  so  generally  serious  as  it  is  now 
the  fashion  to  consider  them  ;  and  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  evils  which  follow  head-work  are  due  to  secondary 
causes,  against  some  of  which  at  least  it  is  easy  to  guard. 

The  first  of  these  which  we  shall  allude  to  is  the  too 
sudden  adoption  of  extreme  studious  habits.  A  man 
who  has  for  some  time  neglected  his  studies  finds  him- 
self unprepared  as  the  time  of  examination  approaches ; 
at  once  he  changes  all  his  habits,  applying  himself  the 
greater  part  of  the  day  and  night  to  work.  Naturally 
enough,  the  system  rebels  against  this  abuse.  The  mus- 
cular tissue  will  not  bear  such  treatment ;  let  him  try  to 
walk  ten  or  twelve  hours  in  one  day  without  training, 
and  gradually  increasing  the  amoiftit  of  exercise  ;  and  he 
will  be  most  painfully  reminded  that  organization  has  its 
laws,  which  cannot  be  violated  with  impunity.  The 
brain  tissue  cannot  be  expected  to  be  more  enduring,  or 


240  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

more  tolerant  of  such  liberties,  than  this  ;  let  us  but 
treat  it  as  we  would  any  other  organ,  then  we  shall  find 
it  as  ready  to  act,  and  its  actions  as  little  hurtful  or  pain- 
ful as  those.  The  mind  must  be  gradually  inured  to 
labor,  and  then,  instead  of  an  enfeebled  palsied  develop- 
ment, we  may  hope  to  become  able  to  perform  mental 
athletics  to  almost  any  extent  without  danger,  and  with 
ease  and  profit.  It  is  a  most  common  mistake,  in  con- 
sidering the  mind  as  immaterial,  to  lose  sight  of  this 
most  important  fact,  that  it  acts  always  and  exclusively 
through  the  medium  of  a  material  tissue  ;  which  being, 
on  the  one  hand,  subject  to  an  immaterial  essence,  does 
not,  on  the  other,  thereby  lose  its  relations  to  the  mate- 
rial organism  of  which  it  is  an  important  part. 

Another  source  of  evil  is  the  neglect  of  the  corporeal 
requirements  for  a  great  number  of  hours  consecutively. 
It  is  almost  certain  that  the  same  amount  of  work  which 
often  proves  injurious  by  its  continuity,  might  be  achieved 
with  ease,  if  it  were  divided  by  short  intervals  of  rest  and 
refreshment.  We  appeal  to  the  experience  of  all  students, 
if  during  their  earlier  efforts  Nature  did  not  give  broad 
hints  of  requiring  repose  and  restoratives; — the  stom- 
ach asserts  its  right  to  food  at  proper  intervals,  but  it  is 
put  off,  —  "  Go  thy  way  for  this  time  ;  when  I  have  a  con- 
venient season  ....";  then  when  the  exhausted  powers 
refuse  any  longer  to  work  without  fuel,  the  meal  is  but 
a  business  to  be  accomplished  as  speedily  as  possible  ;  the 
food  is  swallowed  unmasticated,  and  the  stomach,  loaded 
perhaps  with  a  mass  of  indigestible  material,  is  further 
impeded  in  its  operations  by  the  immediate  resumption 
of  a  cramped,  constrained,  and  compressed  attitude. 
Indigestion  with  its  thousand  sons  is  the  natural  result. 
Then  the  head  aches,  and  its  hint  is  evaded  by  a  wet 
towel,  and  perhaps  an  irritating  stimulant,  as  a  cup  of 
strong  tea  or  coffee  ;  under  the  influence  of  which,  tern- 


BODY  V.    MIND.  241 

porary  power,  or  a  semblance  of  it,  is  regained.  The 
weary  eye,  the  aching  limb,  the  general  febrile  condition, 
—  all  these  are  disregarded  ;  day  by  day  the  same  pro- 
cess is  repeated  ;  until  the  wonder  is,  not  that  the  brain 
gives  way  at  length,  but  that  it  has  held  out  so  long,  — 
longer,  we  venture  to  say,  as  an  ordinary  rule,  than  any 
other  organ  would  have  done  under  an  equivalent  amount 
of  ill-treatment.  Yet  in  all  this,  the  fact  of  mental 
labor  simply  is  not  more  to  be  blamed  than  is  commerce 
for  the  great  number  of  deaths  brought  about  by  the 
all-absorbing  desire  of  gain,  the  auri  sacra  fames  which 
operates  in  precisely  the  same  secondary  manner  upon 
the  health  and  character. 

The  neglect  of  fresh  air,  regular  exercise,  and  early 
rising,  enters  into  the  same  category  of  the  secondary 
causes. 

Yet  there  are  other  conditions  attendant  too  often 
upon  a  literary  life,  which  are  inherent  in  our  nature, 
and  in  the  existing  order  of  our  social  arrangements, 
which  exert  a  most  important  and  gloomy  influence  upon 
the  reaction  of  mind  upon  the  body ;  such  are  the  co- 
operation of  poverty,  of  wearing  anxiety,  of  the  depress- 
ing passions  and  emotions  generally ;  and  finally,  in  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  cases,  the  pre-existence  of 
elements  of  degeneracy  and  disease  in  the  organism. 

"  Poverty,"  says  old  Burton,  "  is  the  muse's  patrimony  : 
and  as  that  poetical  divinity  teacheth  us,  when  Jupiter's 
daughters  were  each  of  them  married  to  the  gods,  the 
Muses  alone  were  left  solitary,  Helicon  forsaken  of  all 
suitors,  and  I  believe  it  was  because  they  had  no  portion." 

"  Calliope  longum  coelebs  cur  vixit  in  aevum? 
Nempe  nihil  dotis,  quod  numeraret,  erat." 

Literature  is  a  "  good  ^taff  but  a  bad  crutch,"  —  fasci- 
nating, cheering,  and  enlivening,  tending  to  promote  life, 
11  p 


A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

health,  and  an  equable  mind  in  those  who  pursue  it  for 
pleasure  ;  but  woe  to  those  who  are  dependent  upon  their 
bruins  for  daily  bread,  —  thrice  woe,  if  others  are  de- 
pendent upon  them.  In  straitened  circumstances,  which 
preclude  the  possibility  of  obtaining  almost  even  the 
necessaries  of  life,  —  these  only  to  be  got  by  unremitting 
toil,  —  under  the  stern  necessity  for  doing  so  much  brain- 
work  in  so  many  hours,  —  for  coining,  in  short,  so  much 
nerve-tissue  into  so  much,  or  rather  so  little,  money,  — 
pale  faces  around  him  asking  for  bread  and  shoes,  —  a 
partner  of  his  woes  vainly  trying  to  conceal  that  she  has 
not  wherewithal  to  procure  the  day's  dinner,  —  who  can 
wonder  that,  under  privation  and  misery  such  as  this, 
the  powers  fail  ?  —  who  can  wonder,  or  who  can  venture 
to  blame  him,  if  he  sometimes  looks  forward  to  the  com- 
ing of  the  "  Pale  Phantom"  with  something  of  hope?  — 
who  dare  but  veil  his  face  and  pity  him  if  he  in  some 
dark  moment  courts  his  coming  1  And  when,  having  to 
the  end  kept  his  faith  in  his  Maker's  justice,  and  fought 
his  good  fight,  he  hears  a  voice  saying,  "  Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant,"  shall  we  then  wonder  that  he  can 
willingly  leave  wife  and  child,  to  be  at  rest  *? 

The  presence  of  the  seeds  of  disease  and  degeneration 
in  the  system  has  already  been  noticed  as  a  fruitful  source 
of  the  deaths  that  so  often  occur  apparently  under  the 
influence  of  studious  habits.  If  these  co-operate  with 
the  last-mentioned  class  of  influences,  the  lethal  effects 
will  be  much  more  rapid  :  then  early  death,  or  a  life  of 
wretchedness  often  terminated  by  suicide,  is  an  almost 
necessary  result. 

These  are  sad  but  apparently  inevitable  consequences 
of  the  conditions  of  society  and  of  our  race.  There  is, 
and  ever  will  be,  a  loud  demand  for  intellect  and  its 
labors,14  —  there  exist,  and  ever  will,  poverty,  and 
wretchedness,  and  disease  ;  —  in  the  exhaustless  combi- 


BODY  V.   MIND.  243 

nations  of  society  these  will  at  times  become  associated  ; 
doubtless  for  wise  and  benevolent  purposes  these  things 
are  appointed  as  amongst  our  probation  experiences ;  it 
is  not  our  province  to  attempt  here  to  "  vindicate  the 
ways  of  God  with  men  " ;  and  an  investigation  into  the 
proximate  causes  of  these  evils  would  lead  us  into  the 
fathomless  abyss  of  an  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  evil. 
We  turn  to  more  practical  points. 

As  there  are  conditions  of  depression  and  deteriora- 
tion in  the  system  which  preclude  the  possibility  of  long- 
continued  mental  labor  with  impunity,  there  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  hardy,  vigorous,  excited  state  of  rude 
health,  which,  so  long  as  it  lasts,  is  as  great  a  barrier  to 
successful  hard  work.  It  is  not  long  since  we  saw  a 
hard-working  student  of  good  sound  constitution,  who 
had  taken  the  relaxation  of  a  Continental  tour  for  a  few 
weeks,  and  who  complained  on  his  return  that  he  could 
not  work,  — his  body  was  too  vigorous.  Again,  the 
overworked  body  reacts  as  powerfully  upon  the  mind  as 
the  over-strained  mind  does  upon  the  physique ;  hence 
the  toils  and  anxieties  of  an  arduous  professional  life  too 
frequently  incapacitate  the  man  of  moderate  powers  for 
any  striking  intellectual  efforts. 

It  is  necessary  and  useful  to  inquire  what  classes  of 
temperament  are  the  best  fitted  for  mental  labor,  and 
the  most  likely  to  produce  satisfactory  results.  We  say, 
without  much  hesitation,  the  Phlegmatic  and  ,the  Chol- 
eric. 

Miiller,  who  takes  a  mental  and  metaphysical,  rather 
than  a  corporeal,  view  of  the  various  temperaments,15 
describes  the  Phlegmatic  as  one  whose  "mental  strivings 
or  emotions  are  neither  intense  nor  enduring."  "  In  per- 
sons of  this  temperament,  ideas  are  conceived  with  as 
much  rapidity  as  in  others,  and  there  may  be  the  same 
powers  of  mind  as  in  other  temperaments.  When  the 


244  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

intellectual  faculties  are  good,  this  temperament  will 
render  a  person  capable  of  more  difficult  acts,  and  suc- 
cessful in  a  more  extraordinary  degree,  than  were  his 
impulses  rendered  stronger  by  a  more  passionate  tem- 
perament "  (e.  g.  the  sanguine  or  melancholic).  "  Such 
a  person,  whose  mental  strivings  or  emotions  are  not  vio- 
lent, remains  cool  and  undisturbed,  and  is  not  drawn 
away  from  his  determined  course  to  the  performance  of 
acts  which  he  would  regret  on  the  morrow  ;  he  is  more 
sure  and  trustworthy  than  persons  of  an  opposite  tem- 
perament, and  his  success  more  to  be  depended  on  :  in 
tunes  of  danger,  and  in  moments  of  importance,  when 
good  judgment,  calculation,  and  reflection,  rather  than 
quick  action,  are  needed,  his  powers  are  all  at  his  com- 
mand. When  rapid  action  is  required,  the  phlegmatic 
person  is  less  successful,  and  others  leave  him  behind  ; 
but  when  no  haste  is  necessary,  and  delay  is  admissible, 
he  quietly  attains  his  end,  while  others  have  committed 
error  upon  error,  and  have  been  diverted  from  their 
course  by  their  passions." 

In  the  Melancholic  and  the  Sanguine,  the  chief  ten- 
dencies of  the  mind  are  to  the  feeling  of  pain  in  the  for- 
mer and  pleasure  in  the  latter.  The  Melancholic  person 
suffers  impediments  to  depress  and  dishearten  him,  and 
a  corresponding  effect  is  produced  on  the  physical  frame. 
The  Sanguine  is  quick  to  conceive,  but  not  stable  enough 
for  execution  ;  full  of  purpose,  but  fickle  and  volatile  in 
performance.  The  system  is  more  formed  for  activity 
than  for  study. 

The  Choleric  has  not  the  indifference  of  the  Phleg- 
matic, but  compensates  for  this  want  by  the  intensity 
and  durability  with  which  he  can  act.  His  powers  of 
reflection  are  less,  but  his  action  is  prompt,  decided,  and 
unhesitating,  lie  has  a  powerful  will,  and  is  not  given 
to  failure  where  his  mind  is  once  fixed  on  success.  Un- 


BODY  V.   MIND.  245 

der  the  influence  of  "ambition,  jealousy,  revenge,  or  love 
of  rule,"  his  powers  seem  to  have  no  limits. 

The  nearer  is  the  temperament,  then,  to  the  sanguine 
or  the  melancholic,  the  more  care  will  be  required  in  the 
adoption  of  intensely  studious  habits ;  whilst  the  chol- 
eric and  the  phlegmatic  person  may  with  comparative 
safety,  and  with  ordinary  regard  to  the  rules  of  hygiene, 
follow  the  bent  of  his  inclinations ;  the  one,  because 
his  constitution  is  specially  adapted  to  quiet  and  seden- 
tary pursuits  ;  the  other  because  his  will  is  sufficiently 
powerful  to  govern  the  functions. 

But  it  is  time  to  inquire  whether  a  negative  defence 
of  mind  is  all  that  can  be  brought  forward,  or  whether 
there  are  not  positive  advantages  and  conservative  influ- 
ences attendant  upon  mental  labor  which  tend  to  ameli- 
orate the  evils  of  temperament  and  constitution,  and  to 
prolong  life.  It  is  a  matter  of  daily  experience,  how 
powerful  is  the  influence  of  mental  application  in  reliev- 
ing bodily  pain ;  how  pre-eminently  successful  it  is  in 
soothing  the  ruffled,  troubled  spirit,  and  in  softening  the 
asperity  of  corroding  anxiety  and  care.  If  the  student 
be  poor,  his  books  are  his  riches  ;  and  whilst  living  and 
communing  with  sages  and  philosophers,  he  has  no 
troubles  about  the  state  of  the  funds  or  the  rates  of  dis- 
count. If  he  be  rich,  his  studies  are  an  omnipotent 
resource  against  ennui,  and  will  (if  aught  can  do  so)  pre- 
vent that  burning  desire  for  more  which  riches  so  often 
bring  with  them. 

But  mental  occupation  has  a  more  direct  and  specific 
influence  upon  certain  hereditary  maladies,  of  which  we 
may  adduce  some  instances.  Burton,  himself  addicted 
to  the  disease,  in  his  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  strongly 
recommends  study  as  a  remedy  ;  and  by  the  catalogue 
which  he  gives  of  things  to  be  inquired  into,  he  evidently 
does  not  consider  that  a  man  need  limit  himself.  Find- 


246  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ing  his  health  and  mind  failing,  he  took  to  writing  this 
work,  —  a  perfect  miracle  of  learning,  —  and  doubtless 
by  its  assistance  he  lived  to  the  age  of  sixty-four.  Poor 
Cowper's  melancholy  was  greatly  relieved  for  a  consider- 
able time  by  the  writing  of  "  The  Task."  With  the  in- 
herent vices  of  his  constitution,  and  his  tendency  to  the 
worst  form  of  hypochondria,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether, 
without  mental  labor,  sometimes  of  a  severe  and  almost 
compulsory  character,  he  would  have  lived  to  the  verge 
of  seventy.  Byron  found  a  necessity  for  writing  to  pre- 
serve the  integrity  of  his  mind.  "  I  must  write  to 
empty  my  nynd,  or  I  shall  go  mad."  Accumulated  in- 
stances would  add  nothing  to  the  force  of  the  argument ; 
but  no  one  who  has  suffered  in  mind  or  body,  and  has 
had  resolution  to  try  severe  study  as  a  remedy,  will 
doubt  its  efficiency. 

Not  long  ago  a  friend  reviewed  with  us  the  names  of 
the  six  or  eight  upper  wranglers  for  the  last  twenty 
years.  With  very  few  exceptions,  these  and  nearly  all 
the  •'  double  first "  men  are  alive  and  well  at  the  present 
time.  A  stronger  proof  could  scarcely  be  imagined  that 
even  excessive  brain-work  has  little  or  no  destructive 
influence  upon  life  or  reason  ;  if,  indeed,  it  does  not 
compel  us  to  recognize  its  directly  conservative  tendency. 
Contrast  with  this  the  effect  of  hard  bodily  training,  as 
manifested  in  boating.  We  have  complete  and  reliable 
information  as  to  the  history  of  two  boats'  crews  of 
picked  men,  within  the  last  few  years,  not  one  of  whom 
is  now  alive.  Such  havoc  was  surely  never  experienced 
amongst  mental  athletes. 

Mr.  Mucluren,  of  the  Gymnasium,  Oxford,  takes  a  very 
sensible  view  of  this  subject  :  "  There  is  no  error  more 
profound,  or  productive  of  more  evil,  than  that  \\hich 
views  the  bodily  and  mental  powers  as  antithetical  and 
opposed,  and  which  imagines  that  the  culture  of  the  ono 


BODY  V.   MIND.  247 

must  be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  The  truth 
is  precisely  the  reverse  of  this.  In  the  acquirement  of 
bodily  health,  mental  occupation  is  a  helpful,  indeed  a 
necessary,  agent.  And  so  impressively  has  this  been 
proved  to  me,  that  in  cases  where  the  acquisition  of 
bodily  health  and  strength  was  the  all-in-all  desired  by 
the  parent,  and  the  one  thing  longed  for  by  the  child 
(and  in  some  cases  almost  despaired  of  by  myself ),  I  have 
been  careful  to  allot  and  mark  out  a  proportion  of  mental 
with  bodily  occupation."  16  Dr.  Madden  also  observes, 
that  "  it  may  be  truly  said,  without  any  hyperbole,  that 
every  pursuit  which  ennobles  the  mind  has  a  tendency 
to  invigorate  the  body,  and  by  its  tranquillizing  influ- 
ence, to  add  to  the  duration  of  life.'1'  n 

Let  us  now  inquire  what  testimony  history  bears  to 
the  longevity  of  men  whose  lives  have  been  essentially 
intellectual.  Some  objections  may  be  made  to  this 
course  of  investigation  ;  thus  we  can  only  quote  the  most 
remarkable  instances  ;  —  we  cannot  in  many  cases  say 
how  much  of  the  life  was  purely  studious,  —  we  cannot, 
in  our  limits,  review  the  labors  of  these  men,  —  we  can- 
not enumerate  those  who  died  young,  nor  still  less  can 
we  estimate  how  many,  who  would  otherwise  have  been 
great  as  these,  have  failed  in  physical  strength.  With 
all  these  limitations,  we  may  still  hope,  by  a  cursory 
glance  at  names  which  have  marked  epochs  in  philoso- 
phy and  literature,  to  arrive  at  some  idea  of  the  influ- 
ence of  life  devoted  to  thought  rather  than  to  action  ; 
and  also  to  prove,  by  positive  instances,  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  most  intense  application  which  must 
necessarily  tend  to  shorten  life,  seeing  that  many  of  the 
most  laborious  men  have  been  octo-  and  nono-  genarians, 
and  even  centenarians. 

M.  Tissot  states  that  Gorgias,  the  rhetorician,  lived 
to  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  eight  years,  "  without 


248  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

discontinuing  his  studies,  and  without  any  infirmity." 
Isocrates  wrote  his  "  Pan-Athenreai "  when  he  was 
ninety -four,  and  lived  to  ninety -eight.  The  above  writer 
also  mentions  the  case  of  "  one  of  the  greatest  phy- 
sicians in  Europe,  who,  although  he  had  studied  very 
hard  all  his  lifetime,  and  is  now  almost  seventy,  wrote 
me  word  not  long  since  that  he  still  studied  generally 
fourteen  hours  every  day,  and  yet  enjoyed  the  most  per- 
fect health." 

Epimenides,  the  seventh  of  the  "  wise  men,"  lived,  it 
is  supposed,  to  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four. 
Herodicus,  a  very  distinguished  physician  and  philoso- 
pher, the  master  of  Hippocrates,  lived  to  the  age  of 
one  hundred.  Hippocrates  himself,  whose  genuine  writ- 
ings alone  wrould  be  sufficient  to  testify  to  a  life  of  ardu- 
ous study,  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-nine.  Galen  wrote, 
it  is  said,  three  hundred  volumes  ;  what  now  remains  of 
his  works  occupy,  in  the  edition  of  1538,  five  folio  vol- 
umes. He  lived  to  near  one  hundred  years.  Lewis 
Cornaro  wrote  seven  or  eight  hours  daily  for  a  consider- 
able period  of  his  life,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hun- 
dred, in  spite  of  a  feeble  constitution  originally. 

Theophrastus  wrote  two  hundred  distinct  treatises, 
and  lived  to  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  seven.  Zeno, 
the  founder  of  the  Stoic  school,  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety- 
eight  years ;  and,  in  the  full  possession  of  his  faculties, 
then  committed  suicide,  having  received,  as  he  supposed,  a 
warning  by  a  wround  of  the  thumb  that  it  was  time  for 
him  to  depart.  Democritus  was  so  devoted  to  study 
and  meditation  that  he  put  out  his  eyes,  it  is  said,  that 
external  objects  might  not  distract  his  attention.  He 
died  aged  one  hundred  and  nine  years.  Sophocles  died 
aged  ninety-one.  Xenophon,  Diogenes,  and  Carneades 
each  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety.  Varro  wrote  five  hun- 
dred volumes,  and  lived  to  eighty -eight  years.  Euripides 


BODY  v.   MIND.  249 

died  aged  eighty-five  ;  Poly  bins,  eighty-one ;  Juvenal, 
above  eighty ;  Pythagoras,  eighty  ;  Quintillian,  eighty. 
Chrysippus  died  of  laughter,  at  eighty.  The  poet  Pin- 
dar died  aged  eighty  ;  Plato,  aged  eighty-one.  Socrates, 
in  the  full  possession  of  his  faculties,  was  judicially  mur- 
dered at  seventy-one.  Anaxagoras,  to  whom  we  have 
before  alluded,  died  at  seventy-two.  Aristotle  died  at 
sixty-three.  Thucydides  was  eighty. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  select  twenty-five  names  which 
exerted  a  much  greater  influence  upon  literature,  philos- 
ophy, and  history  than  these  in  old  times.  Many  of 
them  are  known  to  have  been  most  voluminous  writers, 
many  of  them  most  profound  thinkers.  These  were 
not  the  days  of  handbooks  and  vade-mecums ;  those 
who  wanted  information  or  mental  cultivation  had  to 
work  for  it.  Yet  the  average  age  of  these  twenty-five 
men  is  exactly  ninety  years.  It  is  much  to  be  ques- 
tioned whether  the  united  ages  of  twenty-five  of  the  most 
distinguished  farmers  that  the  world  has  ever  produced 
would  amount  to  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  The  list  might  easily  be  enlarged  greatly  by  such 
men  as  Seneca  and  Pliny,  who  came  to  untimely  deaths 
by  accident  or  tyranny,  and  who  promised  to  live  as  long 
as  the  oldest,  in  the  course  of  nature. 

We  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  some  remarks  upon 
the  labors  of  the  old  commentators,  which  appeared  in 
an  amusing  paper  in  Chambers's  Journal  for  .October, 
1857,  before  passing  in  review  the  ages  of  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  :  — 

"  Homer  says  that  it  would  take  nine  men  of  his 
degenerate  day  to  lift  a  stone  thrown  by  a  single  warrior 
of  the  heroic  ages.  We  know  not  how  many  men  of 
our  own  time  it  would  take  to  equal  the  labor  of  our 
commentator,  —  certainly  not  less  than  a  dozen.  In 
truth,  his  were  the  heroic  days  of  literature.  See  ho\v 
11* 


250  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

the  pile  of  manuscript  grows  under  his  indefatigable 
fingers  !  If  he  has  sat  at  work  less  than  sixteen  hours 
in  the  twenty -four,  he  considers,  like  Titus,  that  he  has 
lost  a  day.  '  Fits  !  '  says  Bernard  Lintot,  in  Pope's  squib 
against  Dennis,  —  *  a  man  may  well  have  fits  and  swollen 
legs  who  sits  writing  fourteen  hours  a  day.'  Alas  !  the 
degenerate  days  had  already  set  in  ;  in  the  time  of  Ber- 
nard Lintot  our  commentator  sat  writing  for  sixteen 
hours,  for  six  months  in  succession,  without  having  fits  or 
swollen  legs.  There  was  a  time  when  he  only  allowed 
himself  one  night's  rest  out  of  three.  He  was  warm  with 
youth  in  those  days,  and  found  that  he  had  gone  too  far  ; 
there  are  stones  too  heavy  even  for  Homeric  heroes. 
No  wonder  that  piles  of  folios  grew  out  of  his  labors." 

Yet  these  old  writers,  commentators,  and  others  were 
apparently  a  hardy  race,  —  they  were  generally  long- 
lived.  Beza,  the  severity  of  whose  enormous  labors 
might  be  supposed  to  be  aggravated  as  to  the  results  by 
the  acrimonious  controversies  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
lived  in  the  perfect  enjoyment  of  his  faculties  up  to  the 
age  of  eighty-six.  The  learned  Bichard  Bentley  died  at 
eighty-one.  Neander  was  seventy-eight ;  Scaliger,  sixty- 
nine  ;  Heyne.  eighty-four  ;  Parr,  eighty  ;  Pighius,  eighty- 
four  ;  Vossius,  seventy-three  ;  Hobbes,  ninety-one,  —  at 
death. 

Dr.  Madden,  the  able  author  of  the  "  Infirmities  of 
(ic-nius,"  has  constructed  some  most  instructive  tsiMi-s 
relative  to  the  longevity  of  men  distinguished  for  their 
intellectual  pursuits.  He  says  that  each  list  contains 
twenty  names,  in  which  "  no  other  attention  has  been 
given  to  the  selection  than  that  which  eminence  sug- 
gested, without  any  regard  to  the  ages  of  those  who  pre- 
sented themselves  to  notice." 

An  analysis  of  the  tables  gives  the  following  averages 
of  life  for  the  various  classes  :  — 


BODY  V,   MIND.  251 

*%£*  *•«*• 

Twenty  natural  philosophers    .         .        .  1504  75 

Twenty  moral  philosophers  .         .         .  1417  70 

Twenty  sculptors  and  painters          .         .  1412  70 

Twenty  authors  on  law,  &c.          ...  1394  69 

Twenty  medical  authors  ....  1368  68 

Twenty  authors  on  revealed  religion    .         .  1350  67 

Twenty  philologists  ....  1323  66 

Twenty  musical  composers  ....  1284  64 

Twenty  novelists  and  miscellaneous  authors  1257  62^ 

Twenty  dramatists 1249  62 

Twenty  authors  on  natural  religion          .  1245  62 

Twenty  poets 1144  57 

This  list  does  not  by  any  means  give  too  high  an 
average  of  live  for  literary  characters.  Many  of  the 
oldest  are  omitted  from  the  calculation,  because,  though 
equally  laborious,  their  eminence  was  not  quite  so  great ; 
and,  again,  many  are  inserted  because  eminent,  who 
died  young,  obviously  not  from  causes  connected  with 
mental  application.  This  is  particularly  illustrated 
among  the  poets  by  the  cases  of  Byron  and  Burns, 
whose  deaths  certainly  were  not  justly  to  be  attributed 
to  the  nature  of  their  mental  habits.  Amongst  artists, 
also,  Fuseli  (eighty-four),  Nollekens  (eighty-six),  Kneller 
(seventy -five),  and  Albert  Durer  (eighty-seven),  are  not 
mentioned.  M.  Lordat,  in  his  "  Mental  Dynamics," 
gives  many  remarkable  instances  of  intellectual  pursuits 
being  carried  on  to  an  extremely  advanced  age;  —  "for 
instance,  M.  des  Quersonnieres,  one  hundred  and  six- 
teen years  of  age,  now  residing  in  Paris,  an  accomplished 
poet,  remarkable  for  his  powers  of  conversation,  and 
full  of  vivacity."  He  mentions  also  another  poet,  M. 
Leroy,  aged  one  hundred  years.  Fontenelle,  considered 
the  most  universal  genius  that  Europe  has  produced,  for 
forty-two  years  Secretary  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in 
Paris,  lived  with  unimpaired  faculties  to  the  age  of  one 


252 


A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 


hundred  years.  Father  Sirmond,  called  by  Naude  "an 
inexhaustible  treasury  of  ecclesiastical  lore,"  lived  to  the 
age  of  ninety-three.  Hutton,  the  learned  geologist  and 
cosmogonist,  died  at  ninety-two. 

We  will  now  give  a  table  of  distinguished  men,  with 

their  ages,  independent  of  classification  or  chronology, 

—  such   names  as  are  sufficiently  known  to  the  world 

to  preclude  the  necessity  of  giving  any  account  of  their 

labors  :  — 


Bacon  (Roger)     . 

Buffon 

Copernicus  . 

Galileo     . 

Lowenhoeck 

Newton     . 

Whiston      . 

Young 

Ferguson  (Adam) 

Kant 

Reid  (T.)     . 

Goethe     . 

Crebillon      . 

Goldoni 

Bentham 

Mansfield 

Le  Sage 

Wesley  (John) 

Hoffman 

Pinel 

Claude 

Titian 

Franklin 

Halley       . 

Rollin 

Waller     . 

Chalmers     . 

South  (Dr.)      . 

Johnson  (Dr.) 

Cherubini 


Age. 

Age. 

78 

Herschel       . 

84 

81 

Laplace    . 

77 

70 

Linnaeus 

72 

78 

Metastasio 

84 

91 

Milton 

66 

84 

Bacon  (Lord)  . 

65 

95 

Hobbes 

91 

84 

Locke       . 

72 

92 

Stewart  (D.) 

75 

80 

Voltaire   . 

84 

86 

Cumberland 

80 

82 

Southern  (Thomas) 

86 

89 

Coke  (Lord) 

85 

85 

Wilmot    . 

83 

85 

Rabelais 

70 

88 

Harvey     . 

81 

80 

Heberden     . 

92 

88 

Michael  Angelo 

96 

83 

Handel 

75 

84 

Haydn 

77 

82 

Ruysch 

93 

96 

Winslow  .         .         . 

91 

85 

Morgagni     . 

89 

86 

Cardan     . 

76 

80 

Fleury  (Cardinal) 

90 

82 

Anquetil   . 

84 

83 

Swift   .... 

78 

83 

Watts  (Dr.)      . 

74 

75 

Watt  (James) 

83 

82 

Erasmus   . 

69 

BODY  V.   MIND.  253 

This  list  is  taken  entirely  at  random,  and  might  be 
almost  indefinitely  enlarged ;  but  these  illustrations 
suffice, 

There  are  certain  practical  deductions  obviously  to  be 
drawn  from  the  details  and  arguments  that  have  been 
brought  forward. 

1.  Devotion  to  intellectual  pursuits  and  to  studies, 
even  of  the  most  severe  and  unremitting  character,  is 
not  incompatible  with  extreme  longevity,  terminated  by 
a  serene  and  unclouded  sunset     Dr.  Johnson  composed 
his   "  Dictionary  "  in  seven  years  J      And  during  that 
time  he  wrote  also  the  Prologue  to  the  opening  of  Drury 
Lane  Theatre  ;  the  "  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes  " ;  the 
tragedy  of  "  Irene  "  ;  and  the  "  Rambler  "  ;  —  an  almost 
incomprehensible  effort  of  mind.     He  lived  to  the  age 
of  seventy-five.     When  Fontenelle's  brilliant  career  ter- 
minated, and  he  was  asked  if  he  felt  pain,  he  replied, 
"  I  only  feel  a  difficulty  of  existing." 

2.  Mental  application  is  a  powerful  remedy  in  diseases 
both  of  body  and  mind  ;  and  its  power  as  a  remedy  is 
proportionate  to  its  intensity  as  a  pursuit, 

3.  The   emotions,    especially   those    of  a  depressing 
kind,  as  anxiety,  fear,  &c.,  have  a  remarkable  influence 
in  giving  a  tone  to,  and  intensifying  the  morbific  effects 
of,  excessive  mental  labor.     Yet  in  some  cases,  as  in 
those  of  Byron  and  Cowper,  the  best  and  only  resource 
against  despair  is  found  in  composition, 

4.  The  turmoils  of  active  life  do  not  appear  to  render 
intellectual  labor  more  injurious  to  the  system ;  possi- 
bly here  also  the  influence  may  be  counteracting.     Mil- 
ton, the  Secretary  to  the  Commonwealth,  in  times  when 
men    lived  years  in  months,  —  blind   and   in  domestic 
discomfort,  writing  his  immortal  poems  ;  John  Wesley, 
persecuted   and    almost    an    outcast   from    his    former 
friends,  —  in  "  labors  more  abundant/'  — denying  him- 


254  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

self  natural  rest  and  refreshment,  yet  acting  with  mind 
and  body  with  unparalleled  energy;  Voltaire,  the  apos- 
tle of  infidelity,  at  war  with  more  than  the  whole  world ; 
Luther,  hunted  by  principalities  and  powers  like  a  wild 
beast,  —  these  and  a  cloud  of  others  warred  with  the 
existing  order  of  things,  and  remained  masters  of  them- 
selves and  their  mental  powers  to  a  ripe  old  age. 

5.  The  injurious  effects  of  mental  labor  are  in  great 
measure  owing  — 

To  excessive  forcing  in  early  youth  ; 

To  sudden  or  misdirected  study  ; 

To  the  co-operation  of  depressing  emotions  or  pas- 
sions ; 

To  the  neglect  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  hygiene  ; 

To  the  neglect  of  the  hints  of  the  body ;  or 

To  the  presence  of  the  seeds  of  disease,  degeneration, 
and  decay  in  the  system. 

6.  The  man  of  healthy  phlegmatic  or  choleric  tem- 
perament is  less  likely  to  be  injured  by  application  than 
one  of  the  sanguine  or  melancholic  type  ;  yet  these  lat- 
ter, with  allowance  for  the  original  constitution,  may  be 
capable  of  vast  efforts. 

7.  The  extended  and  deep  culture  of  the  mind  exerts 
a  directly  conservative  influence  upon  the  body. 

Fellow-laborer !  one  word  to  you  before  we  conclude. 
Fear  not  to  do  manfully  the  work  for  which  your  gifts 
qualify  you  ;  but  do  it  as  one  who  must  give  an  account 
both  of  soul 18  and  body.  Work,  and  work  hard,  whilst 
it  is  day  ;  but  the  night  cometh  soon  enough,  —  do  not 
hasten  it.  Use  your  faculties,  use  them  to  the  utmost, 
but  do  not  abuse  them,  — make  not  the  mortal  do  the 
work  of  the  immortal.  The  body  has  its  claims,  it  is  a 
good  servant ;  treat  it  well,  and  it  will  do  your  work  ;  it 
knows  its  own  business;  do  not  attempt  to  teach  or 
to  force  it ;  attend  to  its  wants  mid  requirements,  listen 


BOYD  V.   MIND.  255 

kindly  and  patiently  to  its  hints,  occasionally  forestall 
its  necessities  by  a  little  indulgence,  and  your  considera- 
tion will  be  repaid  with  interest.  But  task  it  and  pine 
it  and  suffocate  it,  make  it  a  slave  instead  of  a  servant ; 
it  may  not  complain  much,  ijut,  like  the  weary  camel  in 
the  desert,  it  will  lie  down  and  die. 


V. 
ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS. 

PROBLEM  :   Under  what  conditions  are  our  Senses  reliable 
or  unreliable  witnesses  ? 

THERE  is  no  form  of  belief  so  deeply  rooted  in  man's 
nature,  so  widely  spread  over  his  entire  history  in  time 
and  space,  so  apparently  necessary  to  his  very  being,  as 
a  conviction  of  the  existence  of  an  unknown  and  invis- 
ible world,  capable  of  signalizing  its  presence  by  becom- 
ing at  certain  times  visible  and  palpable.  There  is  prob- 
ably no  people  who  have  not  traditions  of  this  nature, 
—  no  form  of  religion  untinctured  with  some  such  be- 
lief. The  savage  who  dreams  of  the  great  Spirit  and 
boundless  hunting-grounds  of  another  life ;  the  man  of 
the  Middle  Ages  who  knelt  at  the  entrance  of  the  pur- 
gatory of  St.  Patrick  ;  the  Arab  who  wanders  amid  the 
enchanted  palaces  of  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights  ;  the 
Hindu  absorbed  in  the  incarnation  of  Brama ;  the  in- 
habitant of  the  civilized  world  who  in  public  believes  in 
nothing,  and  consults  the  pythoness  or  fortune-teller  in 
secret,  or  seeks  for  revelations  of  the  future  in  magne- 
tism :  all  obey  the  same  law  of  necessity,  —  that  of  be- 
lieving in  something. 

All  history  speaks  of  this,  from  the  earliest  times  of 
which  we  have  any  record.  The  writer  of  the  article 
"  Mythology,"  in  the  last  edition  of  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  indeed  speaks  of  a  time  when  fable  did  not, 
in  fact  could  not,  according  to  his  views,  exist ;  for 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  257 

'•  fables  are  always  tales  of  other  times,  but  at  this  period 
(the  earliest  and  most  unpolished  stage  of  society)  other 
times  did  not  reach  far  enough  backward  to  afford  those 
fruits  of  the  imagination  sufficient  time  to  arrive  at  ma- 
turity. Accordingly  we  find  that  both  the  Chinese  and 
Egyptians,  the  two  most  ancient  nations  whose  annals 
have  reached  our  times,  were  altogether  unacquainted 
with  fabulous  details,  in  the  most  early  and  least  im- 
proved periods  of  their  respective  monarchies."  Whence 
he  somewhat  hastily  concludes  that  "  all  was  genuine  un- 
sophisticated truth."  If  this  were  so,  we  should  hesitate 
to  call  such  a  condition  a  least  improved  one. 

How  much  of  the  ancient  Greek  mythology  was  poetry, 
and  how  much  may  be  considered  to  have  embodied  the 
belief  of  the  people,  cannot  of  course  be  decided.  Com- 
prehensive enough  it  certainly  was,  providing  spirits  for 
all  possible  contingencies.  Besides  the  endless  train  of 
gods  and  goddesses,  demigods  and  heroes,  of  nymphs  and 
satyrs,  every  grove  and  tree  had  their  dryads  and  hama- 
dryads, every  mountain  its  oreads.  The  seas  swarmed 
with  nereids  and  oceanides,  and  every  fountain  had  its 
naiad.  Cities,  streets,  and  households,  all  had  their  tute- 
lary deities,  their  penates,  and  their  lares.  These  last- 
mentioned  spirits  are  especially  interesting,  inasmuch  as 
they  embody  a  favorite  belief  in  all  ages  and  amongst  all 
people,  that  the  spirits  of  the  departed  are  permitted  to 
linger  amongst  the  scenes  where  they  dwelt  in  life,  for 
purposes  good  or  evil,  according  to  their  former  nature, 
but  most  frequently  for  protection.  All  these,  from 
Jupiter  downwards,  were  visible  on  occasions  to  their 
believers,  —  as  visible  as  the  fairies  of  later  times. 

It  would  appear  that  the  early  fathers  of  the  Church 
in   some   measure   believed   in   the    existence   of  these 
spirits,  which  they  considered  to  be  devils,  — 
"  Powers  that  erst  in  heaven  sat  on  thrones," 

Q 


258  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

but  now  cast  out,  and  wandering  through  the  earth,  de- 
luding men  and  inducing  them,  — 

"  Devils  to  adore  for  deities : 

Then  were  they  known  to  man  by  various  names 
And  various  idols  through  the  heathen  world." 

Although  Paganism  has  long  ceased  to  be  the  belief 
of  civilized  nations,  having  fled  before  the  power  of 
Christianity,  yet  many  of  its  superstitions  have  descended 
even  to  our  own  times,  intermingled  with  the  religion 
which  was  supposed  to  have  superseded  them.  Of  this 
mixture  many  singular  instances  are  met  with  in  the 
cultus  of  some  northern  European  nations,  to  quote  which 
would  lead  us  too  far  from  our  subject.  But  the  nymphs, 
satyrs,  dryads,  &c.  of  old  times,  are  by  no  means  in- 
distinctly represented  in  more  modern  ones  by  the 
fairies,  elves,  sprites,  brownies,  kelpies,  and  hobgoblins 
generally,  which  not  long  ago  were  matter  of  all  but 
universal  belief.  The  Robin  Goodfelloiu  in  England,  the 
Brownie  in  Scotland,  the  Leprochaune  in  Ireland,  the 
Kobold  in  Germany,  the  Nis  in  Denmark,  the  Tout  in 
Sweden,  the  Lutin  or  Gobelin  in  France,  are  all  one  and 
the  same  object  of  belief,  having  a  representative  in  al- 
most every  known  country  ;  to  disbelieve  in  the  existence 
of  which  would  be  to  discredit  and  deny  the  positive 
sensory  evidence  of  thousands,  who  are  perfectly  familiar 
with  all  his  works  and  ways,  as  well  as  his  personal  ap- 
pearance, habits,  and  customs ! 

We  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  the  nineteenth  century 
are  wiser,  and  chiefly  believe,  as  M.  Boismont  *  insinu- 
ates, in  nothing.  Yet  there  are  millions  who  profess  to 
believe  in  direct  communion  with  the  spirit-world  on 
even  the  most  trivial  occasions  ;  who  listen  with  awe  to 
the  rappings  from  invisible  knuckles  ;  who  ponder  with 
something  akin  to  rrvrtvnrr  over  the  \\<-;iry  platitudes, 
scrawled  in  wretched  prose  or  doggerel  verse  by  spirit 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  259 

hands,  supposed  to  belong  to  the  mighty  dead  ;  who  be- 
come by  hundreds  the  inhabitants  of  lunatic  asylums  at 
the  apparition  of  childlike  spirits'  hands.  Even  amongst 
those  who  are  enlightened  enough  to  recognize  all  this 
as  deception  and  imposture,  or  involuntary  delusion,  how 
comparatively  few  there  are  who,  after  summing  up  their 
disbelief  in  all  spiritual  communications,  will  not  add, 
somewhat  thoughtfully,  "  And  yet  I  remember  — "  and 
proceed  to  relate  some  strange  event  either  in  their  own 
lives,  or  as  having  occurred  within  the  sphere  of  their 
immediate  acquaintance,  supported  by  credible  witnesses ; 
some  appearance,  some  sound,  some  warning  sensation  or 
emotion,  not  explicable,  according  to  their  view,  by  nat- 
ural causes. 

I  am  not  about  to  enter  into,  nor  offer  any  opinion 
upon,  the  broad  question  concerning  the  possibility  of 
direct  intercourse  between  ourselves  in  these  days  and 
the  spiritual  world,  in  which  so  many  piously  believe.  I 
do  not  propose  even  to  discuss  the  entire  theory  of  be- 
lief in  the  supernatural.  My  object  at  present  is  simply 
to  open  out  and  investigate  a  curious  chapter  in  mental 
history,  —  that  relating  to  Illusions  and  Hallucinations  ; 
a  due  and  candid  consideration  of  which  will  indicate 
clearly  the  source  of  many  of  the  so-called  apparitions 
which  have  become  matters  of  history,  as  well  as  of  con- 
stant social  discussion.  Singular  phenomena  indeed  it 
will  present  to  us,  — to  see  what  no  other  eye  can  see  ; 
to  hear  what  none  other  can  hear ;  to  be  convinced  of 
the  reality  of  sensations  that  appear  to  others  incred- 
ible :  surely  these  things  are  worthy  of  careful  investiga- 
tion. With  this  in  view  I  propose,  after  denning  terms, 
to  bring  forward  some  of  the  most  carefully  selected  ex- 
amples, and  from  a  consideration  of  them  to  endeavor  to 
arrive  at  their  causes  and  nature. 

Without  attempting  to  be  too  philosophically  accurate 


260  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

in  definition,  we  understand  by  Illusion,  a  fake  apprecia- 
tion of  a  real  sensation;  by  Hallucination,  a  ]>r<>j<'<li<>,t. 
externally  of  an  inward  conception,  in  other  words,  a  *///>- 
jective  sensation.  The  one  is  a  mental  or  cerebral  pro- 
duction purely,  having  no  external  object  for  its  founda- 
tion; the  other  is  an  error  of  reasoning  or  judgment,  exer- 
cised upon  some  actual  entity.  Thus  the  timid  man  who 
sees  in  a  tree  or  a  guide-post  a  robber  or  some  super- 
natural being ;  the  superstitious  man  who  sees  an  army, 
or  a  legion  of  angels,  in  the  clouds ;  the  maniac  who  sees 
in  his  friends  only  demons  and  spectres,  —  all  these  are 
suffering  from  Illusions :  whilst  he  who  sees  visions 
which  no  one  around  him  can  see  ;  who  holds  conversa- 
tions with  the  invisible  living  or  dead,  or  with  good  and 
evil  spirits ;  he  who,  in  short,  states  and  believes  himself 
to  be  surrounded  by  beings,  objects,  or  influences  which 
have  no  external  sign  whatever,  —  he  suffers  under  what 
we  term  Hallucinations.  We  shall  be  chiefly  occupied 
with  the  latter  order  of  phenomena  at  present ;  but  will 
first,  by  way  of  illustration,  give  one  or  two  familiar  ex- 
amples of  the  former. 

Illusions  may  arise  either  from  disorder  of  the  senses, 
or  from  an  error  of  judgment  upon  data  directly  derived 
from  their  evidence.  Thus  a  person  may  see  double,  or 
see  only  the  half  of  an  object ;  or  he  may  see  that  object 
distorted,  or  variously  colored,  or  modified  in  an  infinity 
of  ways,  —  a  most  prolific  source  of  ghost-seeing.  This 
chiefly  occurs  under  the  influence  of  a  predominant  train 
of  thought,  an  absorbing  emotion,  or  an  excited  state  of 
the  imagination.  One  illustration  will  serve  as  the  type 
of  the  whole  ;  it  is  related  by  Dr.  Ferrier  in  his  "  Theory 
of  Apparitions  "  :  — 

"  A  gentleman  Was  benighted,  whilst  travelling  alone, 
in  a  remote  part  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  was 
compelled  to  ask  shelter  for  the  evening  at  a  small  lonely 


ILLUSIONS  AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  261 

hut.  When  he  was  to  be  conducted  to  his  bedroom,  the 
landlady  observed,  with  mysterious  reluctance,  that  he 
would  find  the  window  very  secure.  On  examination,  1  r 
found  that  part  of  the  wall  had  been  broken  down  to 
enlarge  the  opening.  After  some  inquiry,  he  was  told 
that  a  pedler,  who  had  lodged  in  the  same  room  a  short 
time  before,  had  committed  suicide,  and  was  found  hang- 
ing behind  the  door  in  the  morning.  According  to  the 
superstition  of  the  country,  it  was  deemed  improper  to 
remove  the  body  by  the  door  of  the  house,  and  to  convey 
it  through  the  window  was  impossible  without  removing 
part  of  the  wall.  Some  hints  were  dropped  that  the 
room  had  been  subsequently  haunted  by  the  poor  man's 
spirit.  My  friend  laid  his  arms,  properly  prepared  against 
intrusion  of  any  kind,  by  his  bedside,  and  retired  to  rest, 
not  without  some  degree  of  apprehension.  He  wag 
visited  in  a  dream  by  a  frightful  apparition,  and.  awaking 
in  agony,  found  himself  sitting  up  in  bed,  with  a  pistol 
grasped  in  his  right  hand.  On  casting  a  fearful  glance 
round  the  room,  he  discovered,  by  the  moonlight,  a  corpse 
dressed  in  a  shroud,  reared  against  the  wall,  close  to  the 
window.  With  much  difficulty  he  summoned  up  reso- 
lution to  approa.cn  the  dismal  object,  the  features  of 
which,  and  the  minutest  parts  of  its  funeral  apparel,  he 
perceived  distinctly.  He  passed  one  hand  over  it,  felt 
nothing,  and  staggered  back  to  bed.  After  a  long  in- 
terval, and  much  reasoning  with  himself,  he  renewed  his 
investigation,  and  at  length  discovered  that  the  object  of 
his  terror  was  produced  by  the  moonbeams  forming  a  long 
bright  image  through  the  broken  window ',  on  which  his 
fancy,  impressed  by  his  dream,  had  pictured  with  mis- 
chievous accuracy  the  lineaments  of  a  body  prepared  for 
interment.  Powerful  associations  of  terror,  in  this  in- 
stance, had  excited  the  recollected  images  with  uncom- 
mon force  and  effect."  * 

*  Ferrier,  op.  cit.  p.  24. 


262  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

Illusions  of  the  senses  are  common  in  our  appreciation 
of  form,  distance,  color,  and  motion,  and  also  from  a  lack 
of  comprehension  of  the  physical  powers  of  nature,  in 
the  production  of  images  of  distant  objects.  A  stick  in 
water  appears  bent  or  broken  ;  the  square  tower  at  a  dis- 
tance looks  round ;  distant  objects  appear  to  move,  when 
we  ourselves  only  are  in  motion  ;  the  heavenly  bodies 
appear  to  revolve  round  the  earth.  All  our  readers  will 
also  be  familiar  with  the  Spectre  of  the  Brocken,  the 
Fata  Morgana,  and  the  Mirage,  — all  of  which  were  long 
supposed  to  have  a  supernatural  origin,  until  they  were 
shown  to  be  due  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  light  and  atmos- 
pheric influences.  All  these  illusions  are  easily  rectified 
by  the  judgment,  and  are  transitory  in  the  sane  mind. 
Amongst  the  insane,  mistakes  of  one  person  for  another, 
and  illusions  of  the  most  varied  and  perverse  character, 
are  amongst  the  most  constant  and  durable  symptoms  of 
the  mental  disorder.  The  illusions  that  accompany  many 
bodily  disorders  are  so  mixed  up  with  hallucinations,  that 
they  need  no  separate  consideration. 

Of  Hallucinations  there  are  many  kinds  :  there  are 
some  that  are  voluntarily  producible,  and  some  that  oc- 
cur involuntarily  and  obtrusively  ;  there  are  some  that 
are  compatible  with  reason,  and  others  that  either  origi- 
nally are,  or  by  persistence  become,  incompatible  with  it. 
Of  those  that  are  compatible  with  reason,  some  are  recti- 
fied by  the  understanding,  some  are  not.  Some  occur  in 
u  state  of  apparently  perfect  health  ;  others  are  attendant 
upon  various  deranged  conditions  of  the  mental  or  bodily 
functions  ;  and  some  of  the  most  distinctive  are  produced 
bv  the  action  of  certain  narcotic  agents.  1  shall  illus- 
trate all  these  by  a  few  examples. 

Of  the  simplest  and  most  familiar  kind  of  hallucina- 
tions are  those  optical  spectra  producible  at  will  by  every 
one.  If  the  eye  is  fixed  for  some  time  upon  a  bright 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  263 

object,  as  a  strongly  lighted  window,  the  image  of  that 
object  in  varying  colors  is  visible  for  a  long  time  after- 
wards on  turning  the  eye  towards  a  dark  place.  This 
is,  however,  purely  a  physical  phenomenon  ;  we  are  here 
more  especially  concerned  with  those  produced  by  a  vivid 
effort  of  imagination,  without  the  immediate  intervention 
of  any  object.  Dr.  Wigan  relates  the  history  of  one  of 
our  English  painters,  who  only  required  one  sitting  from 
his  subject  to  form  a  perfect  portrait.  His  own  account 
of  the  subsequent  process  was  as  follows  :  — 

"  When  a  model  was  presented,  I  looked  at  it  atten- 
tively for  half  an  hour,  sketching  occasionally  on  the 
canvas.  I  had  no  need  of  a  longer  sitting.  I  put  aside 
the  drawing,  and  passed  to  another  person.  When  I 
wished  to  continue  the  first  portrait,  I  took  the  subject  of 
it  into  my  mind,  I  put  him  in  the  chair,  where  I  perceived 
him  as  distinctly  as  if  he  had  been  there  in  reality  ;  I  may 
even  add,  with  form  and  color  more  denned  and  lively 
than  in  the  original.  I  contemplated,  from  time  to  time, 
the  imaginary  figure,  and  set  myself  to  paint ;  I  sus- 
pended my  work  to  examine  the  pose,  exactly  as  if  the 
original  had  been  before  me ;  every  time  that  I  cast  my 
eye  on  the  chair  I  saw  the  man." 

It  would  seem,  however,  from  this  and  many  other 
instances  that  might  be  quoted,  that  this  vivid  exercise 
of  the  imagination  is  not  to  be  long  continued  with  im- 
punity.2 By  degrees  this  painter  began  to  lose  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  real  and  the  imaginary  figures,  and 
ultimately  his  mind  became  altogether  confused  and 
overthrown.  He  passed  thirty  years  of  his  after  life  in 
an  asylum,  of  which  period  he  retained  little  or  no 
remembrance.3  After  this  he  resumed  his  art  for  a 
short  time  with  the  same  skill  as  before  ;  but  it  was 
found  again  too  exciting,  and  he  relinquished  it,  after 
which  he  shortly  died.  It  is  related  by  Langlois,  an 


264  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

intimate  friend  of  Talma,  that  this  great  actor  informed 
him  that  when  he  entered  on  the  stage  he  had  the 
power,  by  force  of  will,  to  make  his  brilliant  auditory  to 
disappear,  and  to  substitute  skeletons  for  them.  When 
his  imagination  had  thus  filled  the  saloon  with  these 
singular  spectators,  the  emotion  which  they,  his  own 
creation,  excited  within  him,  gave  to  his  personations 
such  force  as  to  produce  the  most  striking  results. 

Goethe  gives  a  singular  account  of  his  own  faculty  for 
producing  voluntary  hallucinations  on  a  given  theme  : 
"  When  I  close  the  eyes,  on  lowering  the  head,  I  imagine 
that  I  see  a  flower  in  the  middle  of  my  visual  organ ; 
this  flower  does  not  for  a  moment  preserve  its  form ;  it 
is  quickly  decomposed,  and  from  its  interior  are  born 
other  flowers  with  colored  or  sometimes  green  petals  ; 
these  are  not  natural  flowers,  but  fantastic,  nevertheless 
regular  figures,  such  as  the  roses  of  sculptors.  It  was 
impossible  for  me  to  regard  this  creation  fixedly,  but  it 
continued  as  long  as  I  wished,  without  increase  or  dimi- 
nution. Even  when  I  figured  to  myself  a  disk  charged 
with  various  colors,  I  saw  continually  born  from  the 
centre  towards  the  circumference  new  forms  comparable 
to  those  that  I  could  see  in  a  kaleidoscope."  In  this  the 
result  of  Goethe's  favorite  object  of  research  may  clearly 
be  traced. 

Hallucinations  that  are  voluntarily  produced  are  not 
always  dismissible  at  pleasure.  Abercrombie,  in  his 
"  Inquiry  concerning  the  Intellectual  Powers,"  relates 
the  history  of  a  man,  sound  apparently  in  mind  and 
body,  in  the  prime  of  life,  who  was  continually  besieged 
with  hallucinations.  So  marked  was  this  tendency,  that 
if  he  met  a  friend  in  the  street,  he  was  never  at  first 
certain  whether  it  was  a  real  person  or  a  phantom. 
After  much  attention  he  could  observe  a  difference 
between  the  two,  but  he  had  generally  to  correct  hia 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  265 

visual  impressions  by  the  senses  of  touch  or  sound.  He 
had  the  faculty  of  producing  these  hallucinations  at  will, 
either  of  persons  or  scenes,  but  when  once  produced  he 
could  not  bid  them  depart  when  he  would  ;  and  he  could 
never  tell  how  long  they  would  remain.  Another  mem- 
ber of  his  family  had  the  same  peculiarity  in  a  less 
marked  degree. 

But  more  important  and  more  remarkable  than  these 
voluntary  hallucinations  are  those  which  occur  without 
and  against  the  will  of  the  sufferer,  and  apparently  with- 
out any  connection  with  any  previous  excitement  of  the 
imagination,  at  least  as  directed  to  any  such  subject. 
These  are  the  veritable  spectres  with  which  many  per- 
sons of  sane  mind  in  other  particulars  have  conceived 
themselves  to  be  haunted.  The  creation  of  the  brain 
by  automatic  action  has  become  a  something  external, 
so  vivid  and  so  distinct  that  the  results  have  not  unfre- 
quently  been  tragic  in  the  extreme.  One  of  the  most 
authentic,  and  at  the  same  time  most  graphically  de- 
scribed, of  these  cases,  is  one  related  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott  as  having  occurred  to  a  gentleman,  high  in  judi- 
cial station,  high  in  general  estimation,  of  great  mental 
powers  and  of  sound  judgment.  The  relator  derived 
his  information  directly  from  the  medical  attendant  of 
this  gentleman,  an  authority  whose  "  rank  in  his  profes- 
sion, as  well  as  his  attainments  in  science  and  philos- 
ophy, gave  him  an  undisputed  claim  to  the  most  implicit 
credit."  He  describes  a  long  attendance  upon  him, 
fruitless  in  its  results  so  far  as  relief  to  a  complicated 
train  of  depressing  symptoms  was  concerned  ;  with  his 
many  ineffectual  attempts  to  elicit  from  his  patient  the 
hidden  source  of  his  mental  sufferings,  which  evidently 
formed  a  considerable  part  of  his  ailment.  At  length, 
after  a  strong  appeal  to  his  reason,  the  patient  with 
much  reluctance  gave  an  explanation  :  — 
12 


266  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

"  '  You  cannot,  my  dear  friend,  be  more  conscious 
than  I  that  I  am  dying  under  the  oppression  of  the  fatal 
disease  which  consumes  me ;  but  neither  can  you  under- 
stand the  nature  of  my  complaint,  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  acts  upon  me,  nor  if  you  did,  I  fear,  could 

your  zeal  and  skill  avail  to  rid  me  of  it My  case 

is  not  a  singular  one,  since  we  read  of  it  in  the  famous 
novel  of  Le  Sage.  You  remember,  doubtless,  the  disease 
of  which  the  Due  d'Olivarez  is  there  stated  to  have 
died  1 '  'Of  the  idea,'  answered  the  physician,  '  that  he 
was  haunted  by  an  apparition,  to  the  actual  existence 
of  which  he  gave  no  credit,  but  died,  nevertheless,  be- 
cause he  was  overcome  and  heart-broken  by  its  imagi- 
nary presence.'  '  I,'  said  the  sick  man,  '  am  in  that  very- 
case,  and  so  painful  and  abhorrent  is  the  presence  of 
the  persecuting  vision,  that  my  reason  is  totally  in- 
adequate to  combat  the  effects  of  my  morbid  imagination, 
and  I  am  sensible  that  I  am  dying,  a  wasted  victim  to 
an  imaginary  disease.'  " 

The  struggle  which  this  gentleman  had  with  his 
disease  was  most  painful.  It  commenced  by  the  appari- 
tion of  a  black  cat,  which  appeared  and  disappeared  so 
strangely  that  at  last  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  no  "  household  cat,  but  a  bubble  of  the  elements, 
which  had  no  existence  save  in  his  own  deranged  visual 
organs  or  depraved  imagination."  This  vanished,  and 
was  succeeded  by  the  figure  of  a  gentleman-usher,  in 
full  court  costume,  who  went  before  him  into  every 
company,  as  if  to  announce  him.  But  this  figure  in 
turn  disappeared,  and  gave  place  to  another,  "  horrible 
to  the  siirht,  and  distressing  to  the  imagination,  being 
no  other  than  the  image  of  death  itself,  the  apparition 
of  a  sk( h-toii."1 

11  *  Alone  or  in  company,'  said  the  unfortunate  man, 
'  the  presence  of  this  last  phantom  never  quits  me.  I 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  267 

in  vain  tell  myself  a  hundred  times  over  that  it  is  no 
reality,  but  merely  an  image  summoned  up  by  the 
morbid  acuteness  of  my  own  excited  imagination  and 
:  deranged  organs  of  sight.  What  avail  snch  reflections 
while  the  emblem  at  once  and  presage  of  mortality  is 
before  my  eyes,  and  while  I  feel  myself,  though  in  fancy 
only,  the  companion  of  a  phantom,  representing  a 
ghastly  inhabitant  of  the  grave,  even  while  I  yet  breathe 
on  the  earth  1  ....  I  feel  too  surely  that  I  shall  die 
the  victim  to  so  melancholy  a  disease,  although  I  have 
no  belief  whatever  in  the  reality  of  the  phantom  which 
it  places  before  me.' " 

Amongst  other  methods  tried  to  reassure  him,  the 
physician  o.n  one  occasion  placed  himself  between  the 
curtains  of  the  bed,  in  the  precise  spot  where  the  phan- 
tom appeared  to  be,  but  this  was  all  unavailing.  The 
unfortunate  patient  saw  the  "  skull  peering  "  above  his 
shoulder.  He  resorted  to  many  other  methods,  all 
equally  unsuccessful ;  the  patient  sunk  into  deeper  and 
deeper  dejection,  and  finally  "  died  in  the  same  distress 
of  mind  in  which  he  had  spent  the  latter  months  of  his 
life ;  aiil  the  circumstances  of  his  singular  disorder  re- 
maining concealed,  he  did  not,  by  his  death  and  last  ill- 
ness, lose  any  of  the  well-merited  reputation  for  pru- 
dence and  sagacity  which  had  attended  him  during  the 
whole  course  of  his  life."4 

Hallucinations  of  a  similar  nature,  though  ,of  milder 
character,  and  attended  by  less  tragical  consequences, 
are  sufficiently  common.  I  have  myself  met  with  sev- 
eral instances  related  to  me  by  the  subjects  of  them  as 
mere  curiosities.  One  elderly  gentleman  informed  me 
that,  when  slightly  indisposed,  he  very  frequently  saw 
the  figures  of  three  girls,  dancing  or  still,  of  small  size, 
a  little  behind  and  to  the  right  of  him.  The  figures 
were  always  in  the  same  relative  position  to  him  and  to 


268  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

each  other.  Being  much  addicted  to  carving  in  ivory,  I 
asked  him  whether  these  figures  had  any  relation  to  any 
of  his  works  in  that  department,  but  he  could  not  trace 
any  connection.  A  lady,  in  whose  powers  of  observation 
and  veracity  I  should  place  the  utmost  confidence,  told 
me  that,  whilst  tying  awake  one  evening,  after  a  slight 
but  debilitating  illness,  she  saw  the  figures  of  two  chil- 
dren moving  gently  about  the  floor.  As  she  knew  that 
none  could  be  there,  she  said  to  herself,  "  This  is  what 
is  called  an  illusion  "  ;  and,  after  looking  at  them  some 
little  time,  turned  away  her  head  to  see  if  they  moved 
with  her.  They  did  not  do  so ;  and  on  looking  a.Liain 
they  were  gone.  Another  lady,  suffering  from  an  old- 
standing  disease,  but  in  perfect  possession  of  faculties 
of  more  than  average  acuteness,  often  described  to  me 
the  appearance  of  a  man  who  used  to  stand  in  the  door- 
way of  her  room.  His  first  appearance  rather  alarmed 
her,  but,  by  reasoning  upon  it,  she  overcame  her  fear, 
and  got  perfectly  accustomed  to  it.  On  inquiring  how 
she  ultimately  treated  the  apparition,  she  said  her  usual 
method  was  to  turn  away  and  fall  asleep.  In  these  two 
last-mentioned  instances,  the  apparitions  were  in  no  par- 
ticular to  be  distinguished  from  real  objects  considered  as 
objects  of  sense  ;  it  was  only  when  reason  intervened  that 
they  were  recognized  as  phantoms  of  a  heated  brain.  Had 
there  in  either  case  been  less  power  of  thought,  there 
would  have  been  the  foundation  for  a  most  authentic  ghost 
story,  especially  if  in  the  chapter  of  accidents  any  sinister 
event  had  followed  any  of  these  appearances.  A  short 
time  ago,  a  lady  described  to  me,  in  the  calmest  and 
most  sensible  manner,  an  hallucination  to  which  she 
-ubject  at  that  time.  She  saw  some  persons  fre- 
quently, who  stood  at  some  distance  from  her,  "making 
faces"  at  her,  and  occasionally  throwing  stones.  She 
knew  it  was  not  real,  yet  the  sensation  was  so  strong, 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  269 

that  she  was  occasionally  obliged  to  go  to  the  mirror  to 
see  whether  or  not  the  head  was  wounded.  All  this  was 
transitory,  and  attendant  upon  a  depressed  state  of  the 
system  generally.  It  passed  away  completely,  without 
attaining  any  more  serious  aspect.  There  was  not  the 
slightest  reason  to  suspect  any  voluntary  misstatement. 
Many  other  instances  might  be  adduced,  but  these  are 
sufficient  for  the  illustration  of  the  milder  yet  denned 
form  of  ocular  hallucination.  It  may  be  added,  that 
young  children  are  very  subject  to  hallucinations  of  this 
kind,  when  closing  their  eyes  before  going  to  sleep  after 
any  excitement.  They  not  unfrequently  complain  that 
"  things  come  to  them,"  when  they  attempt  to  go  to 
sleep  ;  the  things  having  some  relation  or  resemblance 
to  the  objects  that  have%iost  impressed  them  before. 

The  celebrated  academician,  Nicola'i  of  Berlin,  has 
left  a  most  interesting  and  instructive  account  of  the 
hallucinations  with  which  he  was  troubled  for  about  two 
months.  After  some  months  of  anxiety  and  indisposi- 
tion consequent  upon  it,  and  immediately  succeeding  a 
quarrel,  he  perceived,  about  ten  yards  from  him,  the 
figure  of  a  corpse.  This  continued  about  eight  minutes, 
and  reappeared  in  the  afternoon,  about  two  hours  after 
which  he  perceived  several  other  figures  which  had  no 
relation  to  the  first.  When  the  first  emotion  was  passed 
(he  states),  he  contemplated  the  phantoms,  recognizing 
them  for  what  they  were  in  reality,  examining  them  with 
great  care,  and  attempting  to  trace  by  what  association 
of  ideas  they  had  presented  themselves  to  his  imagina- 
tion. He  could  not,  however,  find  their  connection  with 
any  of  his  thoughts  or  occupations.  On  the  next  day, 
the  figure  of  the  corpse  disappeared,  but  was  replaced 
by  a  great  number  of  other  figures,  representing  some- 
times friends,  but  generally  strangers.  His  intimate  as- 
sociates but  rarely  appeared  in  the  assembly,  which  was 


270  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

chiefly  composed  of  persons  living  at  a  distance.  "  I 
tried,"  he  continues,  "  to  reproduce  at  will  the  persons 
of  my  acquaintance  by  an  intense  objectivity  of  their  im- 
age ;  but  although  I  saw  distinctly  in  my  mind  two  or 
three  of  them,  1  could  not  succeed  in  causing  the  inte- 
rior image  to  become  exterior."  These  visions  appeared 
to  be  as  clear  and  distinct  in  solitude  as  in  company,  by 
day  as  well  as  by  night,  at  home  and  abroad.  Some- 
times, when  the  eyes  were  shut,  they  disappeared,  but 
not  always.  In  general  the  figures,  which  were  of  both 
sexes,  seemed  to  pay  very  little  attention  to  each  other, 
but  walked  about  with  a  busy  air,  as  if  in  a  market. 
The  remainder  of  the  history  I  give  in  his  own  form  :  — 

"  About  four  weeks  afterwards,  the  number  of  these 
apparitions  increased ;  I  bega*  to  hear  them  speak ; 
sometimes  they  spoke  to  each  other,  generally  to  me. 
Their  discourse  was  agreeable  and  short.  Occasionally 
I  took  them  for  sensible  and  tender  friends,  who  strove 
to  soften  my  grief. 

"  Although  my  mind  and  body  were  at  this  period  in 
a  sound  state,  and  the  spectres  had  become  so  familiar 
to  me  that  they  did  not  cause  me  the  least  annoyance,  I 
sought  by  suitable  means  to  rid  myself  of  them.  An 
application  of  leeches  was  made  to  my  head  one  morn- 
ing at  eleven  o'clock.  The  surgeon  was  alone  with  me ; 
during  the  operation  the  room  was  filled  with  human 
figures  of  every  kind  :  this  hallucination  continued  with- 
out interruption  until  half  past  four,  when  I  perceived 
that  the  motion  of  the  phantoms  became  slower.  Soon 
afterwards  they  began  to  grow  pale,  and  at  seven  o'clock 
they  had  all  a  whitish  appearance  ;  their  movements 
were  slow,  but  their  forms  still  distinct.  By  degrees 
they  became  vaporous,  and  appeared  to  mix  with  the 
air,  although  some  of  their  parts  remained  very  visible 
for  some  time.  About  eight  o'clock  they  were  all  gone, 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  271 

since  which  time  I  have  seen  nothing  of  them,  although 
I  have  thought  more  than  once  they  were  about  to 
appear."  5 

In  Dr.  Hibbert's  "Philosophy  of  Apparitions,"  he 
concludes  that  "  apparitions  are  nothing  more  than 
morbid  symptoms,  which  are  indicative  of  intense  ex- 
citement of  the  renovated  feelings  of  the  mind."  Many 
of  the  instances  quoted  would  appear  to  controvert  this 
view,  since  the  phantoms  were  by  no  means  invariably 
reminiscences;  in  fact,  more  frequently  they  were  new 
and  strange  appearances.  The  celebrated  physiologist 
Bostock  also  opposes  this  opinion  from  his  own  experi- 
ence. After  a  feverish  illness,  he  had  certain  figures  be- 
fore his  eyes  continually,  "  upon  which,"  he  says,  "  as  I 
was  free  from  delirium,  and  as  they  were  visible  for 
about  three  days  and  nights  with  little  intermission,  I 
was  able  to  make  my  observations.  There  were  two  cir- 
cumstances which  appeared  to  be  very  remarkable  :  first, 
that  the  spectral  appearances  always  followed  the  mo- 
tion of  the  eyes  ;  *  and,  secondly,  that  the  objects  which 
were  the  best  defined,  and  remained  the  longest  visible, 
were  such  as  I  had  no  recollection  of  having  previously 
seen.  For  about  twenty-four  hours  I  had  constantly  be- 
fore me  a  human  figure,  the  features  and  dress  of  which 
were  as  distinctly  visible  as  those  of  any  real  existence, 
and  of  which,  after  an  interval  of  many  years,  I  still  re- 
tain the  most  lively  impression ;  yet  neither  at  the  time 
nor  since  have  I  been  able  to  discover  any  person  whom 

*  This  is  by  no  means  always  the  case.  The  appearance  is  often 
seen  only  in  one  position  in  the  room,  or  even  in  one  particular  apart- 
ment; and  the  turning  away  of  the  head,  or  leaving  the  room,  is  suffi- 
cient to  cause  its  disappearance.  It  is  certain  that,  were  the  produc- 
tion of  these  spectral  appearances  well  understood,  their  moving  with 
the  eye,  or  otherwise,  would  be  an  important  guide  to  the  determina- 
tion of  the  precise  seat  of  the  hallucination,  i.  e.  as  to  whether  it  was 
due  to  the  organ  of  vision  itself,  or  more  deeply  seated  in  the  brain. 


272  A    PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

I  had  previously  seen  that  resembled  it During 

one  part  of  the  disease,  after  the  disappearance  of  this 
stationary  phantom,  I  had  a  very  singular  and  amusing 
imagery  presented  to  me.  It  appeared  as  if  a  number  of 
objects,  principally  human  figures  and  faces,  on  a  small 
scale,  were  placed  before  me,  and  gradually  removed,  like 
a  succession  of  medallions.  They  were  all  of  the  same 
size,  and  appeared  to  be  all  situated  at  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  face.  After  one  had  been  seen  for  a  few 
minutes,  it  became  fainter,  and  then  another,  which  was 
more  vivid,  seemed  to  be  laid  upon  it,  or  substituted  in 
its  place,  which  in  its  turn  was  superseded  by  a  new  ap- 
pearance. During  all  this  succession  of  scenery,  I  do 
not  recollect  that  in  a  single  instance  I  saw  any  object 
with  which  I  had  been  previously  acquainted  ;  nor,  as 
far  as  I  am  aware,  were  the  representations  of  any  of 
those  objects  with  which  my  mind  was  most  occupied  at 
other  times  presented  to  me  :  they  appeared  to  be  inva- 
riably new  creations,  or  at  least  new  combinations,  of 
which  I  could  not  trace  the  original  materials."6 

The  preceding  instances  relate  to  cases  in  which  the 
abnormal  impression  of  the  vision  was  rectified  by  the 
understanding,  and  the  apparition  recognized  for  what 
it  really  was,  viz.  a  visual  hallucination.  In  many  in- 
stances, however,  the  impressions  so  produced  are  not 
thus  rectified ;  and  the  subject  of  them  rests  in  the  be- 
lief that  a  true  and  supernatural  apparition  has  been 
seen  by  him.  This  results  from  a  variety  of  causes, 
such  as  a  credulous  or  superstitious  character,  a  strong 
predisposition  to  the  marvellous,  or  a  defect  of  analytic 
power ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  coincidence  in 
point  of  time,  or  other  relations,  between  such  appari- 
tion and  certain  events  which  it  is  supposed  to  have 
1- in -shadowed  or  indicated.  Instances  of  this  nature 
are  commonly  related  of  many  illustrious  and  historical 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  273 

characters ;  amongst  others,  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  Castlereagh,  Bernadotte,  Male- 
branche,  Descartes,  Byron,  Dr.  Johnson,  Benvenuto  Cel- 
lini, Luther,  Loyola,  Pascal,  and  a  crowd  of  others. 
From  numbers  of  the  ancients  so  visited  we  might  per- 
haps select  Brutus,  Dion,  ^Eneas,  and,  as  some  persons 
believe,  Socrates.  I  can  only  briefly  notice  a  few  of 
these. 

General  Eapp  relates  that  one  night,  going  unan- 
nounced into  Napoleon's  tent,  he  found  him  in  so  pro- 
found a  revery  that  his  entrance  was  unnoticed.  After 
some  time,  the  Emperor  turned  round,  and,  without  any 
preamble,  seizing  Rapp  by  the  arm,  he  said,  pointing 
up  into  the  sky,  "  Do  you  see  that  1 "  The  General 
answered  nothing,  but  on  the  question  being  repeated, 
he  said  he  saw  nothing.  "  What !  "  replied  the  Em- 
peror, "  you  cannot  see  it  1  It  is  my  star  ;  it  is  shining 
there  before  you.  It  has  never  abandoned  me  ;  I  see  it 
on  all  great  occasions  ;  it  orders  me  to  go  forward  ;  and 
it  is  a  constant  sign  of  good  fortune."  The  genealogy 
of  this  anecdote  is  given  by  M.  Boismont.  He  learnt  it 
from  M.  Amedee  Thierry,  whose  informant  was  M. 
Passy,  to  whom  Rapp  himself  had  told  it,  —  Valeat 
quantum.  Of  Cromwell,  Denby  relates  that  on  one  oc- 
casion he  was  laid  on  his  bed,  very  much  fatigued,  when 
the  curtains  were  drawn  aside,  and  a  woman  of  gigantic 
stature  appeared  to  him,  and  prophesied  his  future 
greatness.  On  what  authority  this  anecdote  rests  we 
have  no  information ;  probably  it  is  scarcely  even  as 
direct  as  the  last. 

About  and  before  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the 
belief  in  diabolical  agency,  and  the  constant  and  often 
visible  interference  of  evil  spirits  in  human  aftairs, 
was  universal.  "  The  Devil  and  his  legions  were  every- 
where and  in  everything;  diabolic  agency  was  sup- 
12*  B 


274  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

posed  to  be  unremitting  and  universal Satan's  in- 
visible world  was  displayed  with  a  topographical  minute- 
ness of  detail  which  could  scarcely  have  proved  agreeable 
to  that  great  personage.  The  nature,  history,  and  rank 
of  devils  were  curiously  inquired  into,  and  the  points  of 
precedency  in  the  infernal  hierarchy  settled  to  a  nicety  ; 
the  various  forms  assumed  by  them  in  the  course  of 
their  operations  upon  earth  were  fully  described  ;  the 
different  tests  by  which  their  presence  might  be  detected 
were  given  with  something  like  scientific  precision  ;  and, 
what  is  still  more  extraordinary,  the  number  of  these 

fallen  spirits  was  determined  to  a  fraction At  this 

period,  accordingly,  the  belief  in  apparitions  was  univer- 
sal, and  people  would  have  sooner  doubted  their  own 
existence  or  identity  than  ventured  to  call  in  question 
the  most  grotesque  fooleries  which  the  human  fancy  ever 
imagined."*  To  these  superstitions  it  would  appear  that 
the  great  reformer  Luther  was  by  no  means  superior. 
He  often  writes  of  verbal  contests  with  the  Evil  One,  in 
which  he  generally  had  the  best  of  it ;  and  on  one  occa- 
sion, "  when  the  Tempter  had  intruded  himself  rather 
unseasonably,  and  had  chosen  to  assume  '  the  glorious 
form  of  our  Saviour  Christ,'  the  Reformer,  who  at  first 
expected  a  revelation,  lost  all  temper  as  soon  as  he  dis- 
covered the  real  character  of  his  visitant,  and  exclaimed 
fiercely,  '  Away,  thou  confounded  devil !  I  know  no 
other  Christ  than  he  that  was  crucified,  and  who  in  his 
word  is  pictured  and  preached  unto  me  ' ;  whereupon 
(he  adds)  the  image  vanished,  which  was  the  very  ])<  t<!l 
himself"  f  Some  writers  will  have  all  these  histories  to 
be  merely  parables  and  myths  ;  but  there  are  some  e\- 
;ons  in  his  writings  which  by  no  means  admit  of 
this  interpretation.  Amongst  others,  one  passage  in  his 
treatise  "  De  Missa  Privata  "  is  very  significant.  "  Now 

*  "  Encyclop.  Brit.,"  Vol.  III.  p.  312.  t  Ibid. 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  275 

who  will  explain  to  me,"  he  says,  "  how  it  happens  that 
certain  men  are  found  dead  in  their  beds  1  It  is  Satan 
who  strangles  them.  Emser,  CEcolampadius,  and  others 
who  resemble  them,  have  thus  perished  under  the  talons 
of  Satan." 

An  analytic  examination  of  the  hallucinations  of 
Loyola  and  Pascal  would  be  interesting  as  supplementary 
to  those  of  Luther.  We  should  find,  did  our  limits  per- 
mit us  to  enter  fully  into  the  investigation,  that  the  one 
fundamental  law  at  the  root  of  all  these  phenomena  is 
this,  —  that  whilst  it  is  the  particular  physiological  or 
mental  state  of  an  individual  that  determines  the  occur- 
rence  of  hallucinations,  it  is  the  predominant  belief  or  su- 
perstition of  the  period  at  which  they  occur  that  determines 
their  special  character  and  type.  On  this  point  M.  Bois- 
mont  remarks  :  — 

"  These  hallucinations  were,  if  one  may  so  express  it, 
in  the  body  social,  not  in  individuals.  The  character  of 
generality  that  we  observe  in  the  aberrations  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  was  due,  doubtless,  to  the  fact  that  beliefs  had 
absorbed  the  man;  whilst  free-will  must  necessarily 
cause  individuality  to  predominate.  Thus,  in  our  own 
times,  when  personality  has  attained  its  highest  develop- 
ment, epidemic  aberrations  have  almost  entirely  disap- 
peared, and  have  been  replaced  by  others  peculiar  to 
each  individual." 

The  other  senses  are  also  susceptible  of  hallucina- 
tions in  the  same  manner  as  the  visual.  They  are,  how- 
ever, of  less  general  interest  than  those  of  the  eye, 
chiefly  for  this  reason,  that  they  are  most  frequently 
associated,  when  at  all  well  marked,  with  decided  aber- 
ration of  intellect.  The  insane  murderer  and  suicide 
have  often  heard  voices  urging  them  to  the  deed.  One 
of  the  most  frequent  sensory  symptoms  of  insanity  is  the 
hearing  of  voices  plotting  mischief  against  the  sufferer, 


276  A   PHYSICTAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

using  abusive  or  profane  language,  or  threatening  all 
manner  of  present  and  future  evils.  But  as  the  great 
extent  of  the  subject  has  compelled  me  to  limit  its  con- 
sideration to  only  a  small  section,  I  have  confined  my 
attention  chiefly  to  those  hallucinations  which  appear  to 
be  compatible  with  a  sound  exercise  of  the  intellect  in  all 
other  particulars.  Hallucinations  of  the  ear  frequently 
occur  combined  with  those  of  the  eye,  as  in  the  case  of 
Nicolai*  already  quoted  ;  but  when  pure,  they  are  most 
frequently  associated  with  some  form  of  insanity.  There 
is  one  remarkable  instance,  however,  relating  to  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  persons  of  history,  viz.  Socrates, 
which  I  shall  only  passingly  allude  to  here,  but  discuss 
fully  in  an  Appendix  to  this  Essay,  under  the  title  of 
the  "  Demon  of  Socrates." 

Jerome  Cardan  firmly  believed  himself  to  be  under 
the  protection  of  a  familiar  spirit,  under  whose  direction 
he  did  many  important  acts.  He  was  subject  to  hallu- 
cinations of  several  of  the  senses  ;  some  of  them  volun- 
tary, as  on  one  occasion  he  writes,  Video  quoe  volo.  oculis, 
non  vi  mentis.  Bod  in  gives  an  account  of  some  hallu- 
cinations of  the  sense  of  touch  occurring  in  a  person  of 
his  acquaintance,  the  general  tenor  of  which  bears  a 
striking  analogy  to  the  supposed  hallucinations  of  Soc- 
rates, inasmuch  as  the  intimations  appear  to  have  been 
always  warnings,  and  never  incentives  to  action.  Al- 
though the  principal  part  of  the  phenomena  related  to  the 
sense  of  touch,  yet  sight  and  hearing  were  occasionally 
involved.  In  the  beginning  he  heard  rappings  at  his 
door  ;  after  which  time,  whenever  he  was  about  to  do 
any  thing  dangerous  or  improper,  he  felt  a  touch  on  the 
rinlit  ear  ;  and  if  what  he  was  about  was  likely  t<>  tend 
to  his  advantage,  the  touch  was  on  the  left  ear.  The 
same  intimations  were  given  of  the  approach  of  any 
good  or  evil  influence.  On  one  occcasion  he  saw  on  his 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  277 

bed  the  figure  of  a  child  of  marvellous  beauty,  clothed 
in  white  and  purple,  soon  after  which  he  had  a  great 
deliverance  from  some  imminent  danger.  Guy  Patin 
shrewdly  suspects  that  all  this  is  but  a  history  of  Bodin's 
own  experiences. 

Whilst  alluding  to  hallucinations  of  the  touch,  we 
should  not  omit  to  notice  an  account  which  Berbiguiere 
gives  of  his  sufferings  from  the  persecutions  of  the  Gob- 
lins (les  farfadets).  He  details  their  torments  in  three 
volumes,  so  replete  with  wit,  good  sense  in  other  respects, 
and  sound  argument,  that  we  should  be  tempted  to  be- 
lieve the  whole  matter  to  be  a  solemn  and  elaborate  joke, 
had  it  not  been  perfectly  notorious  that  he  did  believe 
himself  to  be  ever  seeing  and  feeling  the  presence  of 
these  pygmy  persecutors.  They  were  perpetually  coming 
and  going  over  his  body,  and  lean  ing.  upon  him,  to  fatigue 
him  and  cause  him  to  sit  down.  This  went  on  night 
and  day,  and  their  weight  was  such  as  almost  to  stifle 
him.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  catching  them,  and  fixing 
them  with  pins  to  the  mattress,  or  putting  them  into 
bottles.  He  saw  them  doing  everything  that  was  to  be 
done,  presiding  over  the  organic  processes  of  nature,* 
ringing  the  bells,  lighting  the  lamps ;  in  short,  nothing 
transpired  without  les  farfadets.  And  yet,  apart  from 

*  With  regard  to  their  occupations,  he  described  them  in  a  very 
prosaic  parody  on  Pope's  lines  on  the  fairies  :  — 
44  Some  in  the  fields  of  purest  ether  play, 
And  bask  and  whiten  in  the  blaze  of  day; 
Some  guide  the  course  of  wandering  orbs  on  high, 
Or  roll  the  planets  through  the  boundless  sky; 
Some,  less  refined,  beneath  the  moon's  pale  light, 
Pursue  the  stars  that  shoot  athwart  the  night, 
Or  suck  the  mists  in  grosser  air  below, 
Or  dip  their  pinions  in  the  painted  bow, 
Or  brew  fierce  tempests  on  the  wintry  main, 
Or  o'er  the  glebe  distil  the  kindly  rain; 
Others  on  earth  o'er  human  race  preside, 
Watch  all  their  ways,  and  all  their  actions  guide." 

Rape  of  the  Lock,  ch.  i. 


278  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

these  delusions,  Berbiguiere  was  universally  known  as  an 
amiable,  intelligent,  and  judicious  man.7 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  in  a  state  of  health  and  mental 
soundness  the  senses  may  be  so  imposed  upon,  with  or 
without  any  existing  object,  that  in  some  instances  it 
requires  the  exercise  of  all  the  reasoning  and  analytic 
faculties  to  correct  the  impression ;  and  in  others  these 
impressions  are  so  strong,  that  no  suspicion  of  unreality 
ever  appears  to  attach  to  them,  nor  can  the  subject  of 
them  be  persuaded  that  they  do  not  arise  from  real  ob- 
jects. This  latter  is  most  frequently  the  case  when  two 
or  more  of  the  senses  are  simultaneously  affected  by  the 
illusion  or  hallucination.  If  only  the  visual  faculty  is 
involved,  the  ear  and  the  sense  of  touch  may  correct  the 
morbid  fancy  \  but  when,  as  is  not  unfrequently  the  case, 
all  these  are  affected,  then  the  detection  of  the  delusion 
becomes  all  but  impossible,  and,  practically,  is  very 
rarely  effected.  The  illusions  and  hallucinations  con- 
nected with  dreaming,  nightmare,  somnambulism,  sleep, 
and  the  border-land  between  sleeping  and  waking,  are 
too  familiar  to  need  more  than  a  passing  notice.  In  all 
abnormal  states  of  mind  also,  or  bodily  health,  there  is 
a  proclivity  to  hallucinations  and  illusions.  There  are 
hallucinations  in  mania  and  other  forms  of  insanity,  in 
paralysis,  in  delirium  tremens,  in  hysteria  and  hypochon- 
driasis,  in  febrile  and  inflammatory  disorders  ;  in  short, 
they  may  occur  to  complicate  nearly  every  derangement 
of  the  organism.  To  enter  upon  these  would  require  a 
volume,  and  it  is  out  of  our  province  ;  they  belong 
more  to  the  domain  of  special  medicine.  One  general 
remark  we  may  make,  viz.  that  infinite  as  is  the  variety 
of  the  phantom^  that,  pass  before  the  excited  imagination 
in  these  affections,  there  is  noticeable  in  some  of  them  a 
kind  of  speciality  of  delusion  ;  thus,  the  hallucinations 
of  delirium  tremens  almost  invariably  comprise  one  class 


ILLUSIONS  AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  279 

of  delusions,  that  pertaining  to  "  creeping  things  in- 
numerable," and  differ  in  almost  every  respect  from  those 
of  simple  febrile  disorders  on  the  one  hand,  and,  further 
still,  from  those  of  hypochondriacal  affections  on  the  other, 
all  of  which  appear  to  have  a  tendency  to  some  typical 
character  of  their  own.  If  it  be  so,  that  special  organic 
changes  are  attended  by  special  mental  affections  as 
manifested  in  these  hallucinations,  it  may  be  that  when, 
in  the  progress  of  science,  these  organic  changes  are  bet- 
ter known  and  recognized,  an  additional  clew  to  the 
mystery  of  idoa,  thought,  and  cerebration  generally,  may 
be  found  in  the  careful  consideration  and  analysis  of 
these  aberrations  of  perception. 

The  hallucinations  occurring  in  that  state  of  the  sys- 
tem known  as  ecstasy  or  trance  are  strange  in  every 
aspect,  full  of  mystery,  provided  that  we  can  place  any 
faith  in  the  narrators  of  them.  The  utterances  under 
the  influence  of  these  states  or  visions  are  quoted  by 
many  writers  as  having  been  prophetic.  It  is  necessary 
in  general  to  receive  these  accounts  with  the  greatest 
reserve.  The  history  of  one  such  prophecy  is  related  by 
La  Harpe,  and  its  accuracy  is"  vouched  for  by  Madame 
de  Genlis,  the  Countess  Beauharnais,  and  other  eminent 
characters ;  notwithstanding  which  authorities,  the  reader 
will  agree  with  me  that  it  is  expedient  to  doubt.  If  I  give 
a  brief  abstract  of  it,  it  is  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  M. 
Boismont  brings  it  forward  as  illustrative  of  this  part  of 
the  subject,  not  placing  implicit  faith  in  it  himself,  but 
considering  that  it  does  "  not  the  less  belong  to  history, 
whether  we  consider  the  rank  of  the  personages  involved, 
or  the  gravity  of  the  events  predicted." 

"  It  seems  but  yesterday,"  says  La  Harpe,  "  yet  it  was 
at  the  beginning  of  1 788.  We  were  at  table  at  the  house 
of  one  of  our  confreres  of  the  Academy,  grand  seigneur 
et  homme  cTesprit.  The  company  was  large,  and  consisted 


280  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  all  kinds  of  men,  —  courtiers,  lawyers,  literary  men, 
academicians,"  &c.  He  proceeds  to  describe  the  banquet, 
and  the  lively  discourse  that  succeeded,  chiefly  turning 
on  the  coming  or  expected  Revolution.  "  One  only  of 
the  guests  took  no  part  in  these  joyful  anticipations  ; 
this  was  Cazotte,  an  amiable  and  original  man,  but 
tinctured  with  the  reveries  of  the  visionaries  (illumines)" 
He  at  length  spoke,  and  not  only  told  the  company  as- 
sembled that  they  would  certainly  see  this  revolution, 
but  that  they  would  have  little  cause  to  rejoice,  sketch- 
ing out  the  fate  of  many  there  present.  "  You,  M.  Con- 
dorcet,  will  die  on  the  floor  of  your  prison ;  you  will  die 
of  the  poison  you  have  taken  to  escape  the  hands  of  the 
headsman,  —  poison  which  the  happy  season  will  compel 
you  to  carry  about  with  you  always."  At  this  there  was 
great  dismay ;  but  they  excused  it,  knowing  "that  M. 
Cazotte  was  in  the  habit  of  dreaming  with  his  eyes  open.'* 

"  '  But  what  has  put  these  ideas  of  prison,  headsman, 
and  poison  into  your  head  I  What  have  they  to  do  with 
philosophy  and  the  reign  of  reason  1 '  '  It  is  precisely  as 
I  tell  you ;  it  is  in  the  name  of  philosophy,  of  human- 
ity, of  liberty,  —  it  is  under  the  reign  of  reason  that 
this  will  happen  :  at  that  time  there  will  be  no  temples 
but  those  of  reason  in  France.'  '  Verily,'  said  Chamfort, 
with  a  sarcastic  air,  '  you  will  not  be  a  priest  in  that 
kind  of  temple.'  '  I  hope  not,'  he  replied,  '  but  you.  M. 
Chamfort,  will ;  and  you  will  open  your  veins  with  a 
razor,  but  will  not  die  for  months  afterwards.' " 

He  then  proceeded  (so  says  La  Harpe)  to  foretell  the 
fate  of  Vicq  d'Azyr,  of  Nicola!,  of  Bailly,  of  Mah'slirrbrs. 
of  Roucher,  all  as  they  afterwards  occurred  ;  all  to  hap- 
pen before  six  years  had  passed.  La  Harpe  then  himself 
addressed  Cazotte  :  "  You  relate  miracles,  but  do  you  say 
iinthiiiL'  of  me]"  "You  yourself  will  then  be  a  iiiinu  •!«; 
at  IcH-t  as  extraordinary;  you  will  be  a  Christinr." 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  281 

"  Ah ! "  then  said  Chamfort,  "  if  we  are  not  to  perish 
until  La  Harpe  be  a  Christian,  we  shall  be  immortal." 
The  history  goes  on  to  relate  the  prediction  of  the  abo- 
lition of  the  priesthood,  the  execution  of  the  Duchess 
de  Grammont  and  the  Royal  Family,  and  the  fate  of 
Cazotte  himself.  It  admits  of  but  little  comment :  La 
Harpe  died  in  1803.  Perhaps  it  only  attaches  to  our 
subject  by  a  perversion  of  terms ;  but  the  history  is 
curious  in  any  aspect,  and  is  told  in  a  peculiarly  graphic 
and  charming  manner  by  La  Harpe.8 

Both  illusions  and  hallucinations  may  appear  in  an 
epidemic  form.  One  of  the  principal  forms  of  epidemic 
illusion  is  the  vision  of  armies  in  the  clouds.  All  history 
abounds  with  instances  of  this  nature.  A  curious  illusion 
of  another  kind  on  one  occasion  occurred  at  Florence, 
which  depended  upon  atmospheric  causes.  Great  num- 
bers of  the  inhabitants  were  collected  in  the  principal 
streets  of  the  city  for  some  hours ;  they  contemplated 
with  great  attention  the  figure  of  an  angel  floating  in 
the  air,  and  expected  some  great  event  to  follow  imme- 
diately ;  when  it  was  discovered  that  the  phenomenon 
was  caused  by  a  cloud  covering  the  dome,  in  which  was 
reflected  the  image  of  the  golden  angel  surmounting  the 
edifice,  which  was  strongly  illuminated  by  the  rays  of 
the  sun.*  History  also  tells  abundantly  of  epidemic 
hallucinations  ;  the  Crusades  were  especially  rife  in  such 
portents.  "  Scarcely  was  the  signal  for  the  first  crusade 
given  than  the  apparitions  commenced ;  every  one  re- 
counted his  visions,  the  words  he  had  heard,  the  orders 
he  had  received.  The  people,  the  armed  multitude, 
perceived  in  the  air  signs  and  portents  of  all  kinds  ;  but 
it  was  especially  when  the  Crusaders  had  penetrated  in- 
to Asia  that  the  prodigies  multiplied."  They  saw  on  all 
hands  the  saints  descending  and  fighting  for  them  at  the 

*  Ferrier,  "  Theory  of  Apparitions." 


282  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

head  of  angelic  hosts.  But  it  is  needless  to  multiply 
illustrations  of  this  kind  of  epidemic. 

There  existed  for  some  centuries  two  singular  forms  of 
epidemic  hallucinations, —  lycantkropy  and  vampyrism, — 
which  prevailed  extensively  amongst  great  numbers  of 
people.  "  The  origin  of  lycanthropy,"  says  M.  Bois- 
mont,  "  goes  back  to  the  most  ancient  epochs  of  paganism. 
In  this  illusion  the  unfortunate  sufferers  believed  them- 
selves to  be  changed  into  wolves It  was  especially  in 

the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  that  this  singular 
illusion  was  most  widely  spread  in  Europe.  The  cynan- 
thropes  and  lycanthropes  abandoned  their  dwellings  to 
bury  themselves  in  the  forests,  letting  their  nails,  hair, 
and  beard  grow,  and  pushing  their  ferocity  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  mutilate,  and  even  kill  and  eat,  children 
that  fell  in  their  way."  Many  of  them  confessed  these 
things  in  such  a  manner  as  to  indicate  their  insanity  ; 
but  the  ignorance  of  the  times  was  such,  that  they  were 
supposed  to  be  in  pact  with  Satan,  and  they  were  burned 
at  the  stake,  in  great  numbers,  as  the  supposed  witches 
were. 

On  Vainpyrism,  M.  Boismont  remarks  :  — 
"  When  a  man  is  subjugated  by  superstition  and  ter- 
ror, there  are  no  ideas  so  grotesque  that  they  may  not 
become  realities.  One  of  the  most  singular  aberrations 
of  this'  kind  is  that  which  is  known  under  the  name  of 
Vampyrism,  of  which  we  find  the  traces  even  in  the  Tal- 
mud. This  epidemic  reigned  about  the  commencement 
of  the  eighteenth  century  in  many  parts  of  Hungary,  Mo- 
ravia, Silesia,  and  Lorraine.  The  peasants  who  were  the 
subjects  of  it  believed  that  after  death  their  enemies  had 
the  power  (if  appearing  to  them  in  various  forms.  Some 
dreamed  that  these  malevolent  spirits  took  them  by  the 
throat,  strangled  them,  and  sucked  their  blood ;  others 
believed  that  they  really  saw  these  cruel  monsters 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS. 

Mystical  ideas  of  an  expansive  character,  exalting  the 
imagination,  produced  these  various  ecstasies  to  which 
we  have  referred  ;  and  which  had,  as  characteristics,  ce- 
lestial visions  of  all  kinds.  It  is  to  the  same  influence 
that  we  must  refer  the  apparitions  and  the  aural  illusions 
of  the  '  dance  '  of  the  convulsionnaries  of  St.  Medard,  the 
ecstatics  of  Cevennes,  the  possessed  of  London,  and  others 
of  the  same  kind."  * 

Epidemic  hallucinations,  as  illustrated  by  the  belief 
in  witchcraft,  have  been  so  fully  treated  in  the  preceding 
essay  that  they  need  not  be  further  noticed  here. 

In  entering  upon  the  inquiry  as  to  the  mode  of  pro- 
duction and  the  causation  generally  of  hallucinations,  I 
would  premise  that  the  existence  of  the  sensations  (merely 
as  such)  depends  upon  the  well-known  physiological  law, 
that  whatever  impression  can  be  produced  upon  the  or- 
gans of  the  senses  by  external  agency  can  also  be  pro- 
duced subjectively  by  internal  changes,  i.  e.  changes  in  the 
organs  themselves,  or  in  those  parts  of  the  central  ner- 
vous system  with  which  they  are  immediately  connected. 
Thus,  light  falling  upon  the  retina  produces  its  own  spe- 
cific sensation ;  but  this  may  equally  be  produced  by 
distension  of  the  bloodvessels  of  the  retina,  or  some 
corresponding  change  in  that  portion  of  the  brain  in 
which  the  optic  nerves  terminate.  The  same  applies  to 
the  ear  and  the  other  senses.  Now,  taking  the  eye  for 
an  illustration  of  all  the  senses,  we  know  that  when  any 
given  object  is  seen,  there  is  an  image  of  that  object,  be 
it  tree,  man,  or  animal,  painted  on  the  retina  in  rays  of 
light ;  but  how  that  image  is  communicated  to  the  brain, 
and  from  it  to  the  sentient  principle,  —  what  is  the  me- 
chanical change  produced  on  the  nerve-fibres  during  its 
transmission,  —  what  different  change  is  required  to 
convey  the  different  images  of  a  tree  or  a  dog  to  the 

*  Boismout,  op.  cit.,  p.  395. 


284  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

mind  ;  —  of  all  these  things  we  arc  utterly  ignorant. 
We  know  certainly  that  there  is  no  image  painted  on  the 
brain  itself,  and  that  it  is  only  by  a  certain  kind  of  po- 
larity of  its  fibres  or  molecules  that  it  is  enabled  to  con- 
vey to  the  mind  the  idea  of  the  particular  object  in 
question,  that  polarity  being  doubtless  different  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  difference  of  the  object.  We  know 
also  by  abundant  physiological  evidence,  that  these  vari- 
ations of  polarity  are  producible  by  internal  as  well  as 
external  causes ;  but  as  we  are  ignorant  in  the  one  case 
of  the  nature  of  that  polarity  which  results  from  the 
presence  of  an  external  object,  so  in  the  other  are  we 
ignorant  of  that  which  is  automatically  excited  in  such 
manner  as  to  produce  the  subjective  sensation,  the  two 
being  without  doubt  identical.  What  we  can  do,  is  to 
trace  some  at  least  of  the  conditions  under  which  such 
polarity  and  such  consequent  sensations  and  hallucina- 
tions occur,  which  conditions  are  usually  termed  the 
causes  of  the  phenomena. 

The  most  frequent  general  organic  condition  of  the 
sensory  apparatus  during  the  existence  of  hallucinations 
would  appear  to  be  one  of  congestion,  or  fulness  of  blood. 
A  circumstance  directly  illustrative  of  this  is  related  in 
the  "  Psychological  Journal"  for  April,  1857,  as  occur- 
ring to  the  writer  himself.  He  says  :  — 

"  We  have  known  cases  of  ghost-seeing  when  wide- 
awake, which  have  been  cured  by  leeches  at  the  front  of 
the  forehead,  —  evidently  indicating  that  they  have  re- 
sulted from  a  congestive  state  of  the  perceptive  faculties. 

....  We  were  on  a  visit  in ,  and  had  taken  more 

wine  than  usual.  It  was  the  summer-time,  and  the 
weather  very  hot  and  dry,  which  combined  sensations 

rendered  us  feverish  and  uncomfortable We  went 

t<>  bed,  but  not  to  sleep,  and  tossed  and  tumbled, 
changing  our  position  every  moment,  but  were  too  rest- 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  285 

less  to  repose  ;  at  length  we  turned  towards  the  window 
and  perceived  between  it  and  the  bed  a  short,  thick-set, 
burly  figure,  with  a  huge  head,  staring  us  in  the  face. 
Certainly  nothing  could  appear  more  real  or  substantial, 
and  after  gazing  on  this  monstrous  creature,  we  put  out 
our  hand,  when  he  opened  his  ponderous  jaws  and  bit 
at  us.  We  tried  various  experiments  with  the  creature, 
—  such  as  putting  our  hand  before  his  face,  which 
seemed  to  cover  part  of  it.  The  longer  we  contemplated 
it,  the  more  palpable  was  this  figure,  and  the  more 
wrathful  were  its  features.  Struck  with  the  apparent 
reality  of  the  apparition,  we  mechanically  felt  our  pulse  ; 
it  was  throbbing  at  a  fearful  rate  ;  our  skin  was  hot  and 
dry,  and  the  temporal  arteries  were  throbbing  at  railway 
speed.  This  physical  condition  had  produced  the  phan- 
tom. We  then  jumped  out  of  bed,  when  the  spectre 
seemed  to  be  nearer  and  of  more  gigantic  proportions. 
We  then  threw  open  the  window  to  admit  a  little  air, 
sponged  our  head  and  body,  and  thus,  by  removing  the 
cause,  the  monster  disappeared." 

Medical  works  abound  in  histories  of  this  character, 
of  which  a  number,  interesting  and  instructive,  are  col- 
lected by  M.  Boismont.  We  cannot  fail  to  be  struck 
with  the  great  number  of  hallucinations  occurring  in 
subjects  who  had  been  accustomed,  from  one  cause  or 
other,  to  periodical  bleedings,  and  who  had  either  from 
accident  or  design  neglected  the  operation  for  some  time. 

One  instance  is  here  subjoined  :  ;<  A  man  of  sound 
mind  was  seated  one  evening  in  his  chamber.  To  his 
tfreat  astonishment  he  saw  the  door  open  and  one  of  his 
friends  enter,  who,  after  making  a  few  turns  round  the 
room,  placed  himself  before  him,  and  looked  on  him  in- 
tently. Wishing  to  receive  his  visitor  politely,  he  rose  ; 
but  scarcely  had  he  advanced  a  few  steps,  when  the  figure 
vanished ;  when  he  recognized  that  it  was  a  vision. 


286  A    PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

Soon  afterwards  the  figure  appeared  a^ain,  aocompanied 
by  many  other  persons  of  his  acquaintance,  who  sur- 
rounded him,  all  looking  at  him  in  the  same  manner. 
In  the  space  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  assembly  l»e- 
came  so  numerous  that  it  appeared  as  though  the  room 
would  not  contain  them.  These  phantoms  followed  him 
into  his  bedroom,  ranging  themselves  round  the  bed  ;  so 
that  he  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  any  sleep.  When 
he  awoke,  they  reappeared  in  as  great  numbers  as  before. 
On  the  morrow  he  consulted  his  physician,  who  remem- 
bered that  he  had  before  been  bled  for  a  cerebral  con- 
gestion. Leeches  were  applied,  and  in  a  few  hours  the 
phantoms  became  less  distinct,  and  vanished  altogether 
by  the  evening."  * 

But  there  are  doubtless  other  physiological  conditions 
equally  potent  in  the  production  of  hallucinations.  Such 
must  have  been  in  operation  in  the  cases  of  hallucination 
so  frequent  amongst  the  monks  and  hermits  of  old.  I 
quote  one  from  Mr.  Lecky's  "  History  of  European  Mor- 
als "  in  illustration  :  "  Multiplying  with  frantic  energy 
the  macerations  of  the  body,  beating  their  breasts  with 
anguish,  the  tears  forever  streaming  from  their  eyes,  im- 
agining themselves  continually  haunted  by  ever-varying 
forms  of  deadly  beauty,  which  acquired  a  greater  vivid- 
ness from  the  very  passion  with  which  they  resisted 
them,  their  struggles  not  uufrequently  ended  in  insanity 
and  in  suicide.  It  is  related  that  when  St.  Pachomius 
and  St.  Palsemon  were  conversing  together  in  the  desert, 
a  young  monk,  with  his  countenance  distracted  with 
madness,  rushed  into  their  presence,  and,  with  a  voice 
broken  with  convulsive  sobs,  poured  out  his  tale  of  sor- 
rows. A  woman,  lie  said,  hud  entered  his  cell,  had  se- 
duced him  by  her  artifices,  and  then  vanished  miracu- 
lously in  the  air,  leaving  him  half  dead  upon  the  ground  ; 

*  Hibbert's  "Philosophy  of  Apparitions." 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  287 

and  then,  with  a  wild  shriek,  the  monk  broke  away  from 
the  saintly  listeners.  Impelled,  as  they  imagined,  by  an 
evil  spirit,  he  rushed  across  the  desert,  till  he  arrived  at 
the  next  village,  and  there,  leaping  into  the  open  furnace 
of  the  public  baths,  he  perished  in  the  flames."  * 

These  instances  relate  to  centric  and  constitutional 
causation.  It  must,  however,  be  mentioned  that  hallu- 
cinations of  the  most  defined  character  often  occur  from 
causes  of  a  transitory,  trifling,  and  local  character.  In 
Dr.  Maudesley's  "  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  Mind  " 
some  very  interesting  facts  are  related,  showing  how 
"  irritation  operating  by  reflex  action  is  undoubtedly  the 
occasional  cause  of  sensorial  disturbance."  In  one  of 
the  illustrative  cases,  violent  excitement  with  hallucina- 
tion was  caused  by  the  seeming  presence  of  a  particle 
of  gravel  under  the  cuticle  of  one  toe  ;  and  in  another 
a  minute  piece  of  glass  in  nearly  the  same  position  was 
the  exciting  cause.  A  noteworthy  circumstance  with  re- 
gard to  both  these  instances  is,  that  there  was  no  direct 
consciousness  of  the  offending  matter,  which  was  only 
discovered  by  careful  examination.  Dr.  Maudesley's 
fifth  chapter  on  the  Sensory  Ganglia  contains  some  most 
valuable  and  philosophical  views  on  this  and  allied  sub- 
jects, as  well  as  upon  perception  in  general. 

Some  collateral  light  may  be  thrown  upon  the  phys- 
ical conditions  necessary  for  the  production  of  halluci- 
nations, by  a  consideration  of  the  optical  spectra,  before 
mentioned,  as  producible  at  will.  If  we  look  at  the  sun, 
or  any  bright  object,  for  a  moment,  and  then  close  the 
eyes,  we  are  conscious  of  a  variously  colored  image  of  the 
object  remaining  for  some  time.  This  depends  upon  a 
certain  change  or  action  still  persisting  in  the  optic 
nerve  or  ganglia.  Suppose  this  same  change  or  action 
to  be  produced  by  internal  causes,  without  the  interven-; 

*  Vol.  II.  p.  126. 


288  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

tion  of  an  external  object,  and  we  have  the  production 
of  an  hallucination. 

The  determining  causes  of  hallucinations  naturally 
divide  themselves  into  two  classes,  the  moral  and  the 
physical.  As  predisposing  causes,  the  former,  the  moral, 
are  all  powerful ;  they  are  also  chiefly  concerned  in  the 
direct  production  of  such  delusions  as  occur  in  an  epi- 
demic form.  In  these  cases  the  hallucinations  are 
transmitted  by  the  influence  of  educational  and  social 
ideas,  by  the  force  of  example,  and  by  a  true  moral  con- 
tagion. Profound  preoccupation  of  the  thoughts,  and 
prolonged  concentration  of  the  mind  on  one  subject,9  are 
eminently  favorable  to  the  production  of  hallucinations  ; 
and  those  are  the  most  subject  to  them  who  by  an  ill- 
directed  education  are  unceasingly  excited,  whose  organ- 
ization has  become  very  impressionable,  and  in  whom 
the  imagination  has  been  abandoned  to  its  own  impetu- 
osity. The  marvellous  and  horrible  tales  that  are  told 
to  children  are  also  a  fruitful  source  of  this  subsequent 
impressibility.  Burns  complains,  in  strong  language,  of 
the  permanently  evil  effects  which  these  tales,  told  him 
in  infancy,  produced  upon  his  after  life.  Solitary  con- 
finement in  prisons  has  a  very  powerful  effect  upon  the 
imagination.  A  striking  illustration  of  this  fact  is  found 
in  the  history  of  the  imprisonment  of  Silvio  Pellico, 
written  by  himself.  Describing  the  mode  in  which  he 
passed  his  nights,  he  says  :  — 

"  During  these  horrible  nights  my  imagination  was  so 
excited  that,  although  awake,  I  seemed  to  hear  groans 
and  stifled  laughter.  In  my  infancy  I  had  never  be- 
lieved in  ghosts  or  witches,  and  now  these  noises  ter- 
rified me Many  times  I  took  the  light  with  a 

trembling  hand,  and  looked  if  some  one  was  not  con- 
cealed under  my  brd.  Seated  at  the  table,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  some  one  pulled  me  by  the  coat,  sometimes  that 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  289 

an  unseen  hand  pushed  my  book  from  the  table,  some- 
times that  one  was  about  to  blow  out  the  candle.  Then 
I  rose  suddenly,  and  asked  myself  whether  I  was  mad  or 
not.  Every  morning  these  phantoms  vanished,  but  at 
sunset  I  again  began  to  tremble,  and  every  night  brought 
back  the  extravagant  visions  of  the  preceding  one." 

I  have  already  noticed  the  influence  of  the  prevalent 
belief  of  any  age  in  producing  or  determining  the  nature 
of  hallucinations.  It  will  readily  be  conceived  how  in- 
ordinately powerful  is  the  effect  of  unrestrained  religious 
enthusiasm,  especially  when  aided  by  ignorance,  super- 
stition, and  the  unnatural  restraints  of  a  secluded  or 
conventual  life.  But  I  have  designedly  refrained  from 
discussing  the  hallucinations  so  produced,  except  in  the 
most  incidental  manner. 

Strong  expectancy  or  conviction  is  a  fertile  source  also 
of  sensory  delusion.  I  have  before  referred  to  persons 
who  persisted  that  they  were  sorcerers  and  attended  the 
witches'  "Sabbath"  In  order  to  attempt  to  undeceive 
some  of  these  unfortunate  creatures,  Gassendi  imitated 
the  popular  notion  of  the  proceedings  of  the  witches,  and 
rubbed  some  of  them  with  an  ointment,  which  was  to 
send  them  to  the  /Sabbath.  They  fell  into  a  deep  and 
long  sleep,  after  which  they  awoke  perfectly  convinced 
that  the  magical  proceeding  had  taken  effect,  and  gave  a 
detailed  account  of  what  they  had  seen,  heard,  and  felt 
at  the  assembly  at  which  they  believed  themselves  to 
have  assisted.  Imitation,  again,  is  a  powerful  agent  in 
the  production  and  propagation  of  delusions.  "  We 
may  be  asked  "  (says  M.  Boismont)  "  how  large  assemblies 
of  people  can  be  subject  to  the  same  illusion  for  so  long. 
Independently  of  the  reasons  we  have  given,  amongst 
which  ignorance,  fear,  superstition,  and  disease  play  an 
important  part,  we  must  not  forget  the  contagious  in- 
fluence of  example ;  one  outcry  is  sufficient  to  affright  a 
13  s 


290  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

large  multitude.  An  individual  who  believes  that  lie 
sees  supernatural  sights  is  not  slow  to  communicate  his 
conviction  to  others  who  are  not  more  enlightened  than 
himself.  The  anecdote  has  been  often  quoted  of  the 
man  who  exclaimed  that  the  statue  upon  which  he  and 
many  others  were  looking  nodded  its  head.  All  those 
who  were  present  immediately  asserted  that  they  had 
seen  it  move." 

Hallucinations  will  almost  always  be  found  to  reflect 
the  beliefs,  the  passions,  the  prejudices,  and  the  manners 
of  the  age  in  which  they  occur.  They  vary,  therefore, 
according  to  the  amount  of  civilization  and  culture  in 
the  people.  To  enter  into  this  question  would  almost 
involve  a  treatise  on  the  philosophy  of  civilization.  Pre- 
dominant passions,  such  as  fear  and  remorse  especially, 
exert,  a  powerful  influence  over  the  production  of  hallu- 
cinations. Semiramis  saw  everywhere  the  pale  spectre 
of  Ninus  ;  and  Brutus  was  haunted  by  the  apparition 
of  his  former  friend  Csesar.10  Manoury,  who  was  ap- 
pointed in  1634  to  examine  Urbain  Grandier,  accused  of 
sorcery,  acquitted  himself  of  his  task  with  great  bar- 
barity. He  repented  of  his  cruelty,  for  "  one  evening, 
about  ten  o'clock,  returning  home  in  company  with 
another  man  and  his  brother,  he  started  suddenly,  and 
cried  out,  '  Ah  !  there  is  Grandier,  —  what  dost  thou 
want  1 '  and  fell  into  such  a  state  of  tremor  and  frenzy 
that  his  friends  could  not  recover  him.  They  conducted 
him  to  his  house,  ever  calling  upon  Grandier,  whom  he 
saw  continually  before  him.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
days  he  died  in  the  same  state,  always  seeing  Grandier, 
and  trying  to  repel  him."  *  Sully  relates  that  the  soli- 
tary hours  of  Charles  IX.  were  rendered  wretched  by 
the  constant  repetition  of  the  cries  and  shrieks  that  as- 

*  Sauze,  "  Essai  Medico-Historiquo  sur  les  Possdd^s  de  Loudou," 
p.  45. 


ILLUSIONS  AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  291 

sailed  him  during  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
Such  instances  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  but 
these  are  sufficient  for  illustration.  The  great  dramatist 
"  of  all  time  "  has  stamped  remorse  as  a  begetter  of  hal- 
lucinations forever,  by  his  wondrous  and  terrible  delinea- 
tion of  Macbeth. 

Revery  is  another  frequent  cause,  the  mention  of 
which  should  not  be  omitted.  Dr.  Brewster  remarks,  as 
a  physical  fact,  that  "  when  the  eye  is  not  exposed  to  the 
impressions  of  external  objects,  or  when  it  is  insensible  to 
these  objects  in  consequence  of  being  engrossed  with  its 
own  operations,  any  object  of  mental  contemplation, 
which  has  either  been  called  up  in  the  memory  or  created 
by  the  imagination,  will  be  seen  as  distinctly  as  if  it 
had  been  formed  from  the  vision  of  a  real  object." 

In  Mr.  Lecky's  recent  "  History  of  European  Morals  " 
there  is  an  eloquent  passage  illustrative  of  this  subject. 
Referring  to  the  early  Anchorites,  he  says  :  "  With  such 
men,  living  such  a  life,  visions  and  miracles  were  neces- 
sarily habitual.  All  the  elements  of  hallucination  were 
there.  Ignorant  and  superstitious,  believing  as  a  matter 
of  religious  conviction  that  countless  demons  filled  the 
air,  attributing  every  fluctuation  of  his  own  temperament 
and  every  exceptional  phenomenon  in  surrounding  nature 
to  spiritual  agency ;  delirious  too,  from  solitude  and 
long-continued  austerities,  the  hermit  soon  mistook  for 
palpable  realities  the  phantoms  of  his  brain.  In  the 
ghastly  gloom  of  the  sepulchre,  where,  amid  mouldering 
corpses,  he  took  up  his  abode  ;  in  the  long  hours  of  the 
night  of  penance,  when  the  desert  wind  sobbed  around 
his  lonely  cell,  and  the  cries  of  wild  beasts  were  borne 
upon  his  ear,  —  visible  forms  of  lust  or  terror  appeared  to 
haunt  him,  and  strange  dramas  were  enacted  by  those 
who  were  contending  for  his  soul.  An  imagination 
strained  to  the  utmost  limit,  acting  upon  a  frame  at- 


292  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

tenuated  and  diseased  by  macerations,  produced  bewil- 
dering psychological  phenomena,  paroxyras  of  conflicting 
passions,  sudden  alternations  of  joy  and  anguish,  which 
he  regarded  as  manifestly  supernatural.  Sometimes,  in 
the  very  ecstasy  of  his  devotion,  the  memory  of  old 
scenes  would  crowd  upon  his  mind.  The  shady  groves 
and  soft  voluptuous  gardens  of  his  native  city  would 
arise,  and,  kneeling  alone  upon  the  burning  sand,  he 
seemed  to  see  around  him  the  fair  groups  of  dancing- 
girls,  on  whose  warm  undulating  limbs  and  wanton 
smiles  his  youthful  eyes  had  too  fondly  dwelt.  Some- 
times his  temptation  sprang  from  remembered  sounds. 
The  sweet  licentious  songs  of  other  days  came  floating 
on  his  ears,  and  his  heart  was  thrilled  with  the  pas- 
sions of  the  past.  And  then  the  scene  would  change," 
&c* 

M.  Boismont  sums  up  the  influence  of  the  moral  causes 
as  follows :  — 

"  The  mode  of  development  of  epidemic  illusions  and 
hallucinations  refers  them  especially  to  moral  causation. 
Education,  beliefs,  the  dominant  ideas  of  the  epoch,  the 
varieties  of  civilization,  all  require  special  consideration 
in  any  search  after  these  causes.  Amongst  the  moral 
causes  which  exercise  a  powerful  influence  over  halluci- 
nations, we  must  enumerate  the  belief  in  the  power  and 
operation  of  spirits  and  demons,  witchcraft,  magic,  ly- 
canthropy,  vampyrism,  ecstasy,  &c.  All  passions,  fixed 
ideas,  great  preoccupations  of  thought,  may  be  the 
source  of  hallucinations,  and  more  especially  the  passions 
of  excessive  fear  and  remorse." 

I  must  now  as  briefly  as  possible  refer  to  the  physical 
causes  of  hallucinations.  M.  Boismont  enumerates  five 
divisions  of  these ;  under  the  first  of  which  he  places 
heritage,  sex,  age,  temperament,  profession,  physiological 

»  Vol.  II.  p.  124. 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  293 

causes,  season,  climate,  and  locality,  most  of  which  re- 
quire no  special  notice.  One  of  the  most  powerful  pre- 
disposing causes  is  solitude  in  the  evening. 

"  Ere  the  evening  lamps  are  lighted, 
And  like  phantoms  grim  and  tall, 
Shadows  from  the  fitful  firelight 
Dance  upon  the  parlor  wall ; 

"  Then  the  forms  of  the  departed 
Enter  at  the  open  door; 
The  beloved,  the  true-hearted, 
Come  to  visit  us  once  more."  * 

The  state  of  the  atmosphere  is  well  known  to  have  a 
powerful  effect  upon  the  mind,  and  might  therefore  be 
well  supposed  to  influence  the  production  of  visions.  To 
this  cause  is  due  the  collective  hallucination  of  the 
mirage.  In  the  campaigns  of  Africa  and  Egypt,  the 
soldiers  often  saw  springs,  rivers,  trees,  cities,  and 
armies;  fantastic  creations,  which  at  their  approach 
changed  to  dry  and  burning  sands.  In  the  Gazette  de 
Mom  there  is  an  account  of  a  balloon  ascent  by  Mr. 
Green,  containing  some  extracts  bearing  upon  this  point. 
It  is  said  that,  at  a  certain  height,  the  "  air  was  suddenly 
illuminated  with  great  brilliance,  and  our  eyes  were  sub- 
jected to  so  singular  an  aberration  of  vision,  that  every 
object,  however  small,  assumed  gigantic  proportions, 
and  such  capricious  forms,  that  we  could  almost  believe 

ourselves  under  the  influence  of  a  dream In  the 

midst  of  other  transformations,  there  appeared  mon- 
strous forms,  as  of  goats,  mastodons,  and  the  rtiinoceros, 
which  gazed  upon  us  with  great  eyes  of  astonishment. 
Mr.  Green  said  he  had  before  witnessed  these  phenomena, 
but  hesitated  to  speak  of  them  to  any  one,  for  fear  of 
being  taken  for  a  visionary."  A  very  natural  or  probable 
cause  for  these  hallucinations  would  be  found  in  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  cerebral  circulation,  owing  to  the  dimiu- 

*  Longfellow'?  "  Voice*  of  the  Night." 


A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ishcd  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  at  these  altitudes,  — 
the  converse  of  what  occurs  when  descending  in  a  diving- 
bell.  In  the  latter  case  congestion  is  induced ;  in  the 
former,  comparative  anaemia. 

Of  all  direct  sources  of  hallucination,  alcoholic  liquors 
and  narcotic  substances,  such  as  opium,  belladonna, 
hachisch,  and  the  like,  are  the  most  powerful.  The  delu- 
sions of  delirium  tremens  are  well  known,  as  are  those  of 
opium,  to  all  English  readers,  through  the  revelations  of 
De  Quincey  in  his  "  Opium-eater."  There  is  so  strong  a 
class  likeness  in  all  these  effects  of  narcotics,  that  I  shall 
not  enter  into  any  details  :  they  may  be  found  in  abun- 
dance in  works  of  special  science.  The  use  of  narcotics 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  visions  and  inspirations 
seems  to  have  been  known  in  all  ages  of  which  we  have 
any  authentic  records.  It  seems  undoubted  that  the 
priestesses  of  the  ancient  oracles  were  excited  to  their 
"  divine  rage  "  by  the  use  of  drugs  of  this  nature.  Then 
followed  the  effects  so  graphically  portraj^ed  in  the 
^Eneid  (Book  IV.):- 

"  Her  color  changed ;  her  face  was  not  the  same, 
And  hollow  groans  from  her  deep  spirit  came. 
Her  hair  stood  up,  convulsive  rage  possessed 
Her  trembling  limbs,  and  heaved  her  laboring  breast. 
Greater  than  human  kind  she  seemed  to  look, 
And  with  an  accent  more  than  mortal  spoke; 
Her  staring  eyes  with  sparkling  fury  roll, 
When  all  the  god  came  rushing  on  her  soul." 

The  following  account  of  the  mode  of  preparing  the 
oracle  is  from  the  article  "  Delphi "  in  the  "  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica  "  :  — 

"  The  oracles  were  delivered  by  a  priestess  called  the 
Pythoness,  who  received  the  prophetic  influence  in  tin- 
following  manner:  A  lofty  tripod,  decked  with  laurel, 
was  placed  over  the  aperture  whence  the  sacred  vapor 
issued.  The  priestess,  after  washing  her  body,  and  es- 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  295 

pecially  her  hair,  in  the  cold  water  of  Castalia,  mounted 
on  the  stool  to  receive  the  divine  effluvia.  She  wore  a 
crown  of  laurel  on  her  head,  and  shook  a  sacred  tree 
which  grew  near  the  aperture.  Sometimes  she  chewed 
the  leaves,  and  the  frenzy  which  followed  may  probably 
be  attributed  to  this  usage,  and  the  gentler  or  more  vio- 
lent symptoms  to  the  quantity  taken.  In  one  instance 
the  paroxysm  was  so  terrible  that  the  priests  and  suppli- 
ants ran  away,  and  left  her  alone  to  expire,  as  was  be- 
lieved, of  the  god.  Her  part  was  an  unpleasant  one  ; 
but  if  she  declined  to  undertake  it,  she  was  dragged  by 
force  to  the  tripod." 

The  use  of  chloroform  as  an  anaesthetic  is  almost  con- 
stantly attended  by  hallucinations  of  a  more  or  less  vivid 
character.  These  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  render  it 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  person  administering  it  to  be 
aware  of  the  tendency.  A  large  collection  of  instances, 
illustrating  the  nature  and  tendency  of  these  delusions, 
which  scarcely  admit  of  insertion  here,  may  be  found  in 
the  "Journal  of  Psychological  Medicine"  for  October, 
1855.  Narcotic  drugs  applied  as  frictions,  and  perhaps 
taken  internally,  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  cere- 
monies attendant  upon  getting  to  the  "  Witch-Sabbath" 

Of  course,  by  far  the  greater  number  of  illusions  and 
hallucinations  of  a  serious  character  owe  their  origin  to 
some  of  the  various  forms  of  mental  alienation,  and  to 
catalepsy,  hysteria,  hypochondriasis,  as  well  as  to  night- 
mare, sleep,  and  ecstasy.  Many  of  the  instances  we  have 
related  prove  to  demonstration  that  they  may  exist  as 
delusions  more  or  less  transitory  in  a  perfectly  sound 
mind  ;  but  a  persistent  hallucination  not  rectified  by  the 
understanding  is  generally  either  due  to,  or  terminates 
in,  mental  alienation.  Into  this  subject,  and  into  the 
investigation  of  the  various  diseases  that  might  enter 
into  the  catalogue  of  causes,  I  cannot,  for  obvious  rea- 
sons, enter  here. 


296  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  are  certain  large  classes 
of  hallucinations  which  have  either  been  avoided  alto- 
gether, or  only  indirectly  alluded  to.  Such  are,  amongst 
others,  religious  hallucinations,  and  all  those  which  are 
so  frequently  brought  forward  as  illustrative  of  some  es- 
pecial views,  prophetic  or  otherwise.  This  has  been  done 
partly  because  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  verifying  and 
analyzing  the  histories  in  which  they  are  related,  but 
more  especially  because  they  would  lead  us  away  into 
discussions  far  remote  from  our  purpose,  which  has  been 
to  open  out,  although  partially  and  imperfectly,  one  of 
the  most  curious  phases  of  the  physico-psychical  history 
of  our  nature.  That  it  is  one  of  great  importance  will 
be  readily  conceded ;  perhaps  how  great  in  a  legal  aspect 
few  have  considered.  Even  whilst  I  write  this,  a  ter- 
rible fratricide  has  been  committed  under  the  influence 
of  visual  and  aural  hallucinations.  I  subjoin  the  account 
from  a  daily  paper,  only  omitting  names  and  places. 

"  On  Sunday  afternoon,  a  melancholy  occurrence  took 
place  at  a  farm-house  in  the  parish  of  L ,  Carmar- 
thenshire. It  appears  that  a  Mrs.  E resided  in  the 

farm,  together  with  her  two  sons,  L and  S • 

E .  The  brothers  had  always  been  quite  friendly 

with  one  another ;  but  on  Sunday  afternoon,  L ,  it 

appears,  without  the  least  provocation,  deliberately  shot 
his  brother  in  the  head  with  a  double-barrelled  gun,  and 
instant  death  followed.  Information  was  immediately 

conveyed  to  the  police,  and  on  the  same  evening  L 

was  apprehended  at  P ,  a  few  miles  distant  from  the 

farm.  He  admitted  that  he  had  shot  his  brother,  and 
said,  'I  was  commanded  to  do  it  by  the  Lord.'  When 
before  the  magistrate,  the  prisoner  made  the  following 
extraordinary  statement  :  '  My  father  is  a  solicitor  at 

D ,  and  is  now  living  there.  He  took  a  farm  in 

L ,  called  D ,  in  November  last,  where  my 


ILLUSIONS   AND   HALLUCINATIONS.  297 

mother  and  brother  resided.     My  father  is  now  at  D . 

On  the  27th  of  July  last  I  was  getting  up  at  seven  in 
the  morning,  to  join  some  young  men,  when  two  angels 
appeared  to  me,  and  asked  me  if  I  knew  what  day  of  the 
week  it  was.  It  was  Sunday.  I  then  remained  in  my 
bedchamber  for  six  weeks.  Yesterday  I  received  a  com- 
munication from  the  Lord  to  shoot  my  brother,  who  had 
broken  every  commandment.  I  found  the  gun  loaded  in 
the  kitchen,  prepared  for  me.  It  was  a  double-barrelled 
gun.  I  found  my  brother  in  the  yard  with  a  sickle  in 
his  hand.  I  raised  the  gun.  He  said  he  was  my  only 
brother.  I  obeyed  the  Lord's  command.  I  did  not  tell 
him  that  I  was  going  to  shoot  him.  I  was  about  six  feet 
from  him.  He  put  his  hand  to  his  head.  I  fired,  and 
he  fell  dead.  I  did  not  touch  him  with  the  sickle.  No- 
body but  the  Lord  was  present  when  I  shot  him.  I  have 
been  a  master's  assistant  in  the  navy.  I  am  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  retired  from  the  navy  about  three  years 
ago.  I  had  been  wounded  in  1859  by  the  son  of  a  cler- 
gyman, named  Nicholas  Denys,  in  South  America.  I 
was  on  board  the  ship  Wasp,  sloop  of  war.  He  fired  a 
revolver  at  me,  thinking  it  was  not  loaded.  The  ball 
entered  my  right  groin.  I  had  an  attack  of  epilepsy 
from  the  effects  of  the  wound,  and  was  invalided  in  con- 
sequence, and  left  the  navy.'  The  prisoner  signed  the 
statement  without  the  least  emotion,  and  in  a  firm  man- 
ner. He  was  then  formally  committed  to  take  his  trial 
for  murder  at  the  next  Carmarthenshire  Assizes.  The1 
general  opinion  prevails  that  the  prisoner  is  really  insane." 
Those  who  are  conversant  with  medico-legal  matters 
are  aware  that  murder,  suicide,  violence,  robbery,  and 
many  other  crimes,  are  very  frequently  the  result  of 
illusions  and  hallucinations,  phenomena  which  had  been 
noticed,  but  treated  as  matters  of  little  or  no  moment ; 
when  an  intelligent  recognition  of  the  significance  of 
13* 


298  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

these  aberrations  might  have  in  many  instances  prevented 
their  culmination  in  crime.  The  relations  of  the  law,  as 
at  present  constituted,  to  all  mental  affections,  is  sin- 
gularly vague  and  defective.  That  the  subject  abounds 
with  difficulties  of  an  almost  insurmountable  nature, 
especially  in  a  criminal  aspect,  I  am  well  aware ;  nor 
can  we  wonder  at  the  general  reluctance  manifested  to 
enter  upon  a  reformation  under  such  circumstances  ;  but 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  time  must  come  when  an 
attempt  must  be  made  in  that  direction. 

We  now  take  our  leave  of  this  almost  inexhaustible 
subject ;  but  by  way  of  further  illustration  append  two 
short  papers,  treating  of  real  or  supposed  hallucinations, 
the  subjects  of  which  were  SOCRATES  and  PASCAL. 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  299 


THE  DEMON  OF  SOCRATES. 
Being  an  Appendix  to  " Illusions  and  Hallucinations" 

THE  glory  was  departing  from  Athens.  Above  a 
thousand  years  had  elapsed  since  its  foundation  :  it  had 
passed  through  all  gradations,  from  a  condition  of  bar- 
barism, when  its  Heroes  were  little  better  than  skin-clad 
freebooters,  to  one  of  refinement,  which  made  it  the  cen- 
tre of  the  civilized  world.  It  had  most  powerfully 
influenced  the  destinies  of  Greece,  by  successfully  op- 
posing almost  single-handed  the  entire  power  of  Xerxes  ; 
and  its  military  renown  had  culminated  in  the  immortal 
victories  of  Marathon,  Salamis,  and  Platsea.  The  pride, 
the  arrogance,  which  manifested  themselves  after  these 
great  events,  stirred  up  against  it  the  other  States  of 
Greece,  and  determined  them  to  its  destruction.  But 
far  worse  than  external  enemies  were  those  that  arose 
within.  Enervating  luxury  and  brutal  intemperance 
gradually  invaded  all  ranks  of  society,  and  a  general 
demoralization  was  the  result.  Then  ensued  that  certain 
sign  of  decaying  power,  or  of  a  State  shaken  to  its  very 
foundations,  that  prelude  to  its  fall,  —  rapid  changes  of 
forms  of  government,  from  rabid  democracy  to  oligarchy 
and  despotism. 

Yet,  menaced  as  she  was  both  from  within  and  with- 
out, Athens  was  still,  and  long  continued  to  be,  the 
favored  seat  of  learning  and  the  arts.  In  the  period  to 
which  we  allude  (about  the  fifth  century  B.  C.),  she  num- 
bered amongst  her  celebrated  sons  such  intellectual 
giants  as  Pericles,  Phidias,  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles,  Eurip- 


300  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ides,  Aristophanes,  Socrates,  Xenophon,  and  Plato.  It 
is  curious  and  interesting  to  analyze  the  elements  of  civ- 
ilization in  times  which  could  produce  great  intellects  like 
these.  Personally,  a  superficial  refinement  of  manner 
barely  professed  to  conceal  a  gross  licentious  immorality, 
assuming  forms  which  forbid  even  a  faint  allusion  in  these 
times,  —  publicly  the  most  shameless  undisguised  venal- 
ity characterized  their  courts  (misnamed)  of  justice.  In 
their  external  relations,  the  wars,  undertaken  on  the 
slightest  pretexts,  were  wars  of  extermination,  —  the 
cities  were  destroyed,  and  the  inhabitants  killed  or  en- 
slaved. Occasionally,  even  yet,  the  favor  of  the  gods 
was  propitiated  by  human  sacrifices.  On  the  morning 
of  the  battle  of  Platsea,  Aristides  sent  to  Themistocles 
three  nephews  of  Xerxes,  whom  he  had  taken  prisoners  ; 
and  by  the  advice  of  an  augur,  they  were  sacrificed  to 
Bacchus,  to  purchase  his  favor.  Thus,  although  the 
Greeks  were  no  longer  anthropophagi,  their  gods  were. 
The  thousands  of  deities  that  were  admitted,  and  in 
some  sort  worshipped,  were  but  the  coarsest  embodi- 
ments of  human  passions,  —  drunken,  gluttonous,  inde- 
cent creations,  half  despised  and  half  feared  by  their 
votaries,  —  somewhat  more  powerful  than  men,  but  sus- 
ceptible of  being  duped  by  them ;  and  equally  with  them 
subject  to  an  unalterable,  irrevocable  fatality.  But 
as  a  contrast  or  background  to  the  portrait  of  Socrates, 
and  a  sketch  of  his  teaching,  nothing  can  be  more  effect- 
ive than  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  what  was  called 
philosophy  before  his  day.  Now  that  exact  science  has 
made  at  least  some  progress  in  the  world  ;  now  that 
are  in  some  measure  reco^ni/ed  as  necessary  ele- 
ments in  theorizing  ;  now  that  observation,  at  least  so 
far  as  science  is  concerned,  is  allowed  to  be  a  necessary 
preliminary  to  dogmatism,  —  it  is  scarcely  possible  for 
the  mind  to  realize  or  credit  the  futile  nature  of  the 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  301 

questions  which  occupied  the  acutest  minds  ;  or  the  ar- 
bitrary, wordy,  windy,  unreasoning  manner  in  which 
they  were  settled  by  one  school,  or  unsettled  by  another. 
Now  that  the  majority  of  men  recognize  a  material  and 
an  immaterial  nature,  it  is  difficult  to  picture  the  chaotic 
ideas  held  on  the  subject  of  the  Universe,  its  origin,  its 
nature,  its  laws. 

"  All  the  philosophers,"  says  Mr.  Grote,  "  of  the  fifth 
century  B.  C.,  prior  to  Socrates,  inheriting  from  their 
earliest  poetical  predecessors  the  vast  and  unmeasured 
problems  which  had  once  been  solved  by  the  supposition 
of  divine  or  superhuman  agents,  contemplated  the  world, 
physical  or  moral,  all  in  a  mass  ;  and  applied  their 
minds  to  find  some  hypothesis  which  would  give  them 
an  explanation  of  this  totality,  or  at  least  appease  curi- 
osity by  something  which  looked  like  an  explanation. 
What  were  the  elements  out  of  which  sensible  things 
were  made  1  What  was  the  initial  cause  or  principle  of 
those  changes  which  appeared  to  our  senses  ]  What  was 
change  1  was  it  generation  of  something  integrally  new, 
and  destruction  of  something  pre-existent  1  or  was  it  a 
decomposition  and  recombination  of  elements  still  con- 
tinuing 1 " 

Others  were  occupied  in  demonstrating  the  impossibil- 
ity of  change  or  motion.  Parmenides  denied  that  change 
of  either  color  or  form  could  take  place.  Zeno  *  showed 
by  logic  that  motion  was  impossible,  a  proposition  sup- 
ported strongly  by  Melissus  and  many  others  ;  they  up- 
held likewise  the  unity  of  matter,  that  the  real  ultra-phe- 
nomenal substance  was  One,  unchangeable  and  indivisi- 
ble ;  whilst  their  opponents  maintained  that  it  was  not  One 
but  Many,  divisible,  movable,  and  changeable.  These, 
and  other  equally  urgent  matters,  occupied  the  minds 
of  all  thinking  men.  Observation  and  induction  seem 

*  Not  Zeno  the  Epicurean,  but  Zeuo  of  Elea. 


302  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

to  have  been  unknown  or  practically  ignored  ;  with  the 
exception  of  some  few  discoveries  in  astronomy  and  math- 
ematics, science  was  in  complete  infancy ;  physical  sci- 
ence was  represented  only  by  such  theorists  as  Thales, 
Leucippus,  Democritus,  and  Empedocles,  reasoning 
vaguely  upon  air,  water,  fire,  atoms,  and  their  combina- 
tions, by  means  of  Friendship  or  Enmity,  as  causes  of 
motion  or  change.  A  complete  bar  also  to  progress  in 
observation  was  the  opinion  so  generally  held,  that  the 
senses  were  delusive,  and  not  to  be  trusted  in  any  mat- 
ter. Georgias  professes  to  demonstrate  "  that  nothing 
exists ;  that  if  anything  exist,  it  is  unknowable ;  and 
granting  it  even  to  exist,  and  to  be  knowable  by  any  one 
man,  he  could  never  communicate  it  to  others  "  (Grote, 
p.  503).  It  may  be  questioned  whether  some  of  the 
ontological  doctrines  of  our  own  times  are  much  more 
explanatory.  Cicero,  in  his  "  Academic  Questions,"  gives 
a  brief  summary  of  the  cosmogonic  systems  of  this  age, 
fully  illustrating  the  entire  ignorance  of  natural  science 
which  prevailed,  and  the  tendency  to  rest  in  forms  of 
words. 

"  Is  (Thales)  enim  infinitatem  naturae  dixit  esse,  ex 
qua  omnia  gignerentur.  Post  ejus  auditor  Anaximenes, 
infinitum  aera,  sed  ea,  quse  ex  eo  orientur,  definita ; 
gigni  autem  terrain,  aquam,  ignem,  turn  ex  his  omnia. 
Anaxagoras  materiam  infinitain,  sed  eas  particulas  similes 
inter  se,  minutas  ;  eas  primum  confusas,  postea  in  ordi- 
nem  adductas  mente  divina.  Xenophanes,  unum  esse 
omnia,  neque  id  esse  mutabile.  Parmenides,  ignem,  qui 
moveat  terram,  qua3  ab  eo  formatur,  Leucippus,  plenum 
et  inane.  —  Pythagorei  ex  numeris  et  mathematicorum 
initiis  proficisci  volunt  omnia." 

Content  thus  to  remain  bound  up  in  forms  of  words 
without  meaning,  debarred  from  further  progress  by  the 
legitimate  way  of  observation  by  distrust  of  the  senses, 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  303 

because  these  revealed  to  them  phenomena  which  would 
not  be  thus  formulated,  philosophers  degenerated  into 
mere  sceptics,  doubting  nature,  doubting  themselves, 
doubting  their  gods.  "  Respecting  the  gods,"  says  Pro- 
tagoras, "  I  neither  know  whether  they  exist,  nor  what 
are  their  attributes ;  the  uncertainty  of  the  subject,  the 
shortness  of  human  life,  and  many  other  causes,  debar 
me  from  this  knowledge."  Philosophy,  it  was  evident, 
must  receive  some  new  impulse,  be  diverted  into  new 
channels,  or  it  must  perish.  This  impulse  was  not  long 
wanting.  In  the  workshop  of  Sophroniscus,  a  sculptor, 
was  a  youth  who  was  destined  to  introduce  a  new  phi- 
losophy, new  morals,  new  manners,  and  almost  a  new  re- 
ligion ;  and  all  this  without  any  formal  teaching,  with- 
out professing  any  code  of  opinions,  without  forming  any 
school.  His  one  weapon  with  which  he  warred  against 
the  vices,  the  scepticisms,  the  obstinacy,  the  self-conceit 
of  the  world  and  the  sophists,  was  the  great  negative 
arm  of  Grecian  analysis,  the  cross-examining  Elenchus. 
It  may  also  be  said  to  have  been  created  or  invented  by 
Socrates  (although  Zeno*  seemed  to  be  in  some  measure 
acquainted  with  its  value) ;  it  may  truly  be  said  to  have 
perished  with  him. 

"  Where  are  we  to  look  for  a  parallel  to  Socrates, 
either  in  or  out  of  the  Grecian  world  1  The  cross-ex- 
amining Elenchus,  which  he  not  only  first  struck  out, 
but  wielded  with  such  matchless  effect  and  to  .such  noble 
purposes,  has  been  mute  ever  since  his  last  conversation 
in  the  prison  ;  for  even  his  great  successor  Plato  was  a 
writer  and  lecturer,  not  a  colloquial  dialectician.  No 
man  has  ever  been  found  strong  enough  to  bend  his  bow, 
much  less  sure  enough  to  use  it  as  he  did.  His  life  re- 
mains as  the  only  evidence — but  a  very  satisfactory 
evidence  —  how  much  can  be  done  by  this  sort  of  intel- 

*  Of  Elea. 


304  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ligent  interrogation  ;  how  powerful  is  the  interest  which 
it  can  be  made  to  inspire  ;  how  energetic  the  stimulus 
which  it  can  apply  in  awakening  dormant  reason,  and 
generating  new  mental  power."  * 

Simple,  unostentatious,  and  temperate,  amid  the  lux- 
uries and  temptations  of  the  most  luxurious  city  in  the 
world,  —  pure  among  the  most  impure,  —  virtuous 
amongst  the  most  venal,  —  clear-sighted  to  see  through 
the  sophisms  and  verbiage  which  overlaid  and  swamped 
all  thought,  —  he  devoted  all  the  energies  of  his  hardy 
nature,  all  the  tendencies  of  a  long  life,  to  the  practice 
and  inculcation  of  virtue.  St.  Augustine  says  of  him, 
that  he  was  the  first  who,  leaving  celestial  matters  as 
too  obscure  or  abstruse  to  be  penetrated  by  man,  re- 
duced philosophy  to  the  reformation  of  manners  ;  and 
Cicero  says,  Socrates  autem  primus  philosophiam  devocavit 
e  ccelo,  et  in  urbibus  collocavit,  et  in  domes  etiam  intro- 
duxity  et  coegit  de  vita,  et  moribus,  rebusque  bonis,  et  malis 
qucerere.  Forsaking  as  either  unworthy  or  impossible  of 
solution  the  questions  which  hitherto  have  been  supposed 
to  constitute  philosophy  ;  as  to  the  One  or  the  Many,  — 
motion,  divisibility,  or  stability  of  matter,  change  or  per- 
manency, &c.,« —  he  continually  turned  his  investigations 
and  the  thoughts  of  his  interlocutors  to  human  affairs. 
What  is  good  1  What  is  beautiful  1  What  is  just  or 
unjust1?  What  are  temperance,  courage,  cowardice1? 
What  is  a  city,  and  what  a  citizen1?  What  is  piety? 
Such  were  the  questions  with  which  he  was  ever  occu- 
pied, leading  his  fellow-citizens  to  the  comprehension  of 
the  great  truths  involved  in  them  ;  whilst  in  his  own 
person  he  afforded  a  bright  and  consistent  example  of  all 
the  virtues  which  he  taught.  Stern  rebuker  of  vice,  — 
uncompromising  enemy  to  injustice,  even  in  high  places, 
—  living  reproach  to  impurity,  —  terrible  enemy  to  the 

•  Crete's  "  History  of  Greece,"  Vol.  VIII.,  p.  664. 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  305 

darkening  of  counsel  by  words  without  knowledge,  —  he 
was  found  too  far,  morally  and  intellectually,  in  advance 
of  his  countrymen  to  be  tolerated  by  them,  and  they 
put  him  to  death.  But  it  remained  for  the  wisdom  of 
the  nineteenth  century  to  make  the  great  and  somewhat 
startling  discovery  that  Socrates  was  A  MADMAN  !  That 
we  may  not  be  liable  to  the  imputation  of  misrepresen- 
tation, we  quote  literally  from  M.  Lelut's  recent  work  u 
the  following  passage  :  — 

"  Reste  une  troisieme  et  derniere  opinion  .  .  .  .  et 
cette  opinion,  qui  consiste  a  dire  que  Socrate  etait  un 
theosophe,  un  visionnaire,  et  pour  dire  le  mot,  UN  FOU 
—  cette  opinion  est  la  seule  vraie." 

This  opinion  is  founded  upon  the  contested  point  of 
the  demon  or  familiar  spirit  of  Socrates ;  M.  Lelut  con- 
sidering it  as  an  hallucination  of  hearing,  and  perhaps 
of  sight  also  ;  and  thus  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that 
Socrates  was  of  unsound  mind.  A  brief  sketch  of  his 
life  and  character  is  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  the 
examination  of  this  point. 

Socrates  was  born  about  the  year  469  B.  C.  His  father 
was  Sophroniscus,  the  sculptor,  and  his  mother  Phanarete, 
a  midwife.  Of  his  childhood  little  or  nothing  is  known, 
except  that  his  father  was  advised  by  an  oracle  to  leave 
the  child  to  his  own  natural  instincts,  as  he  had  within 
himself  a  guide  worth  a  thousand  teachers.  Notwith- 
standing this,  he  was  brought  up  to  his  father's  profes- 
sion, for  which  he  had  little  vocation  ;  and,  according  to 
Diogenes  Laertius,  might  often  have  been  observed,  chisel 
in  hand,  lost  in  thought,  arrested  in  his  uncongenial  but 
necessary  toil  by  some  vein  of  philosophic  inquiry.  He 
made  some  progress  in  the  art  of  sculpture  ;  and  as  late 
as  the  time  of  Pausanias  a  group  of  his  workmanship 
was  to  be  seen  at  the  entry  of  the  citadel  of  Athens. 
From  the  necessity  for  manual  labor  he  was  at  last  re- 

T 


306  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

leased  by  the  generosity  of  Crito,  at  what  period  of  life 
does  not  appear,  but  most  probably  when  about  nineteen 
years  of  age.  At  first  he  seems  to  have  pursued  the  or- 
dinary curriculum  of  study,  including  the  physical  sci- 
ences of  that  time,  with  geometry,  music,  and  the  art 
of  oratory  :  he  soon,  however,  concluded  that  these 
studies  were  either  useless,  or  shrouded  in  impenetrable 
darkness ;  and  thenceforth  he  devoted  himself  entirely 
to  the  study  of  morals,  and  of  the  duties  of  men  and 
citizens.  "  These  efforts,"  says  M.  Lelut,  "  of  renovat- 
ing moral  philosophy  were  not  made  from  a  professorial 
chair,  nor  in  a  place  set  apart  for  tuition,  nor  at  set 
times,  in  the  intervals  of  which  he  thought  of  other 
things.  They  were  made  in  all  places,  at  all  times,  — 
in  Athens,  as  with  the  army,  —  in  the  street,  as  at  the 
dining-table,  —  in  the  workshops  of  artisans,  as  in  the 
boudoir  of  Callista  or  of  Theodote." 

In  the  street,  the  forum,  the  baths,  the  gymnasium, 
—  wherever  the  people,  particularly  the  youth,  were 
congregated,  there  was  Socrates  with  his  never-ending 
questions.  Of  the  origin,  reasons,  and  method  of  this 
system  of  interrogation,  he  himself  gives  an  account  in 
his  Apology  as  related  by  Plato.  It  appears  that  a  friend 
of  his,  named  Chaerepho,  being  at  Delphi,  ventured  to 
inquire  of  the  oracle  who  was  the  wisest  man,  and  re- 
ceived for  answer  that  none  was  wiser  than  Socrates. 

"  I  reasoned  thus  with  myself :  What  does  the  god 
mean  ?  what  is  the  enigma  1  For  I  am  not  conscious 

that  I  am  wise,  either  much  or  little Afterwards, 

with   considerable  difficulty,  I  had  recourse  to  the  fol- 
lowing method  of  searching  out  his  meaning." 

He  then  describes  how  lie  went  to  one  of  the  greatest 
politicians  of  the  day  and  questioned  him,  and  how  he 
found  that  he  was  only  wise  in  the  opinions  of  others  and 
in  his  own,  but  not  really  so. 


THE  DEMON   OF  SOCRATES.  307 

"  I  thereupon  endeavored  to  show  him  that  he  fancied 
himself  to  be  wise,  but  was  not  really  so.  Hence  I 
became  odious,  both  to  him  and  many  others  who  were 
present.  When  I  left  him,  T  reasoned  thus  with  myself : 
I  am  wiser  than  this  man,  for  neither  of  us  appears  to 
know  anything  great  or  good ;  but  he  fancies  he  knows 
something,  although  he  knows  nothing ;  whereas  I,  as  I 
do  not  know  anything,  so  I  do  not  fancy  I  do.  In  this 
trifling  particular,  then,  I  appear  to  be  wiser  than  he." 

His  researches  amongst  all  classes  of  the  learned  led 
him  to  the  same  conclusion,  —  he  everywhere  found  that 
he  was  making  himself  odious  by  exposing  ignorance  and 
pretence ;  but  feeling  that  to  elucidate  the  meaning  of 
the  oracle  was  of  paramount  importance,  he  continued 
the  same  course  of  interrogation. 

"  At  last,  therefore,  I  went  to  the  artisans.  For  I  was 
conscious  to  myself  that  I  knew  scarcely  anything,  but  I 
was  sure  that  I  should  find  them  possessed  of  much 
beautiful  knowledge.  And  in  this  I  was  not  deceived  ; 
for  they  knew  things  which  I  did  not,  and  in  this  respect 
they  were  wiser  than  I.  But,  0  Athenians,  even  the 
best  workmen  appeared  to  me  to  have  Mien  into  the 
same  error  as  the  poets ;  for  each,  because  he  excelled  in 
the  practice  of  his  art,  thought  that  he  was  very  wise 
in  other  most  important  matters ;  and  this  mistake  or 
theirs  obscured  the  wisdom  that  they  really  possessed. 
I  therefore  asked  myself,  in  behalf  of  the  oracle,  whether 
I  should  prefer  to  continue  as  I  am,  possessing  none 
either  of  their  wisdom  or  their  ignorance,  or  to  have 
both,  as  they  have.  I  answered,  therefore,  to  myself 
and  to  the  oracle,  that  it  was  better  for  me  to  continue 
as  I  am." 

His  general  conclusion  is,  that  all  being  alike  ignorant 
of  any  real  wisdom,  human  knowledge  being  of  little 
worth,  he  only  can  be  wiser  than  his  fellows  who  is  aware 
of  this  ignorance. 


308  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

"  Still,  therefore,  I  go  about  and  search  and  inquire 
into  these  things  in  obedience  to  the  god,  both  among 
citizens  and  strangers,  if  I  think  any  one  of  them  is 
wise ;  and  when  he  appears  to  me  not  to  be  so,  I  take 
the  part  of  the  god,  and  show  him  that  he  is  not  wise." 

It  is  related  that  when  Sir  H.  Davy  was  making  his 
great  researches  into  the  constitution  of  the  earths  and 
alkalies,  some  of  the  chemical  professors  felt  greatly  ag- 
grieved at  having  their  previous"  notions  disturbed.  A 
noted  professor  at  a  Scotch  University  refused  all  recog- 
nition of  these  researches,  as  long  as  he  decently  could  do 
so.  When  ultimately  compelled  to  make  some  allusion 
to  them,  he  did  it  very  briefly,  accompanying  it  with  the 
opinion  that  Mr.  Davy  was  "  a  very  tiresome  person." 
Such  in  an  eminent  degree  must  have  been  the  judgment 
of  many  of  the  Athenians  with  reference  to  Socrates. 
All  those  who,  under  the  pressure  of  his  "  Elenchus," 
were  reduced  to  silence,  palpable  contradictions,  or  tacit 
confessions  of  ignorance,  would  be  inclined  to  view  him 
with  little  favor.  Those  who  winced  under  his  crushing 
irony,  —  those  whose  vices  he  lashed  so  unsparingly,  — 
those  whose  secret  souls  he  laid  bare  for  their  own 
inspection  and  appreciation,  —  all  would  hate  him  much 
more  than  they  would  despise  themselves.  A  notorious 
instance  occurred  in  the  person  of  Critias,  who  at  one 
time  was  a  constant  follower  of  Socrates.  Having 
spoken  earnestly  to  Critias  on  the  subject  of  one  of  the 
vices  then  fashionable,  and  he  having  paid  no  attention 

to  his  remonstrances,  Xryercu  TOV  S&xpar^i',  aXXcoi>  Tf  TroXXeoi/ 
"irapovrvv  Kai  TOV  EutfuS/j/jou,  fnrav,  on  V'LKOV  (TI)  aura)  SOKOITJ  o 
KpiTtay,  fmOvnwv  ~Evdv8r)p.ov  Trpoo-KvijaOat,  uxnrcp  ra  vi'Stu  rois 
\i0ois.  An  eminently  disagreeable  person  must  Critias 
have  thought  Somites  ;  and  lie  did  not  forget  it. 

The  remarks  made  by  our  great  English  satirist  upon 
Swift  would  have  been  very  applicable  to  Critias :  "  If 


THE  DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  309 

undeterred  by  his  great  reputation  you  had  met  him 
like  a  man,  he  would  have  quailed  before  you,  and  not 
had  the  pluck  to  reply ;  and  gone  home,  and  years  after 
written  a  foul  epigram  about  you,  —  watched  for  you  in 
a  sewer,  and  come  to  assail  you  with  a  coward's  blow  and 
a  dirty  bludgeon."  For  years  afterwards,  when  he  had 
long  left  the  society  of  Socrates,  and  was  one  of  the 
Thirty  Tyrants,  he  remembered  his  sarcasm,  and  not 
knowing  how  to  find  matter  of  accusation  against  Socrates 
individually,  so  pure  and  blameless  was  his  life,  he  in- 
serted in  the  laws  that  "  none  should  teach  the  art  of 
disputation,"  and  took  every  opportunity  of  using  his 
power  to  annoy  him.  Polus,  a  pert,  loquacious  young 
man,  who  had  put  himself  forward  to  answer  Socrates  in 
the  place  of  Gorgias  the  rhetorician,  went  away  smarting 
under  his  irony,  and  doubtless  thinking  him  very  ob- 
jectionable. 

"  Socr.  Most  excellent  Polus  !  we  get  ourselves  friends 
and  sons  for  this  express  purpose,  that  when  we,  through 
being  advanced  in  years,  fall  into  error,  you  that  are 
younger,  being  with  us,  may  correct  our  life  both  in 
deeds  and  words.  If,  then,  Gorgias  and  I  have  fallen 
into  any  error  in  our  arguments,  do  you  who  are  present 
correct  us ;  you  ought  to  do  so.  And  I  wish  that  if  any 
of  the  things  that  have  been  granted  appear  to  you  to 
have  been  improperly  granted,  you  would  retract  what- 
ever you  please  ;  only  I  beg  you  beware  of  one  thing. 

"  Pol.  What  is  that  1 

"  Socr.  That  you  would  restrain  that  prolixity  of  speech 
which  at  first  you  attempted  to  employ. 

"  Pol.  What  1  shall  I  not  be  allowed  to  speak  as  much 
as  I  please  1 

"  Socr.  You  would  indeed  be  very  badly  treated,  my 
excellent  friend,  if,  having  come  to  Athens,  where  of  all 
Greece  there  is  the  greatest  liberty  of  speech,  you  alone 


310  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

should  here  be  deprived  of  this  liberty.  But  set  this 
against  it ;  if  you  speak  in  a  prolix  manner,  and  will 
not  answer  a  question  put  to  you,  shall  I  not  be  badly 
treated  if  I  ain  not  allowed  to  go  away  and  not  listen 
to  you  1 " 

But  leaving  for  the  present  the  method  and  matter  of 
the  teaching  of  Socrates,  it  is  time  to  inquire  into  the 
grounds  upon  which  M.  Lelut  considers  it  right  to  class 
him  amongst  madmen. 

His  persuasion  of  a  special  religious  mission  was  one 
of  the  leading  peculiarities  in  the  character  of  Socrates. 
This  is  more  than  once  alluded  to  in  his  defence  before 
his  judges.  "  This  duty,"  he  says,  alluding  to  his  mis- 
sion to  cross-examine  his  fellow-citizens  upon  points  of 
virtue  and  piety,  "  has  been  enjoined  me  by  the  Deity, 
by  oracles,  by  dreams,  and  by  every  mode  by  which  any 
other  divine  decree  has  ever  enjoined  anything  to  man  to 
do."  And  again  :  — 

"  Perhaps,  however,  it  may  appear  absurd  that  I,  going 
about,  thus  advise  you  in  private,  and  make  myself  busy, 
but  never  venture  to  present  myself  in  public  before  your 
assemblies,  and  give  advice  to  the  city.  The  cause  of 
this  is  that  which  you  have  often  and  in  many  places 
heard  me  mention  :  because  I  am  moved  by  a  certain 
divine  and  spiritual  influence,  which  also  Melitus,  through 
mocking,  has  set  out  in  the  indictment.  This  began 
with  me  from  childhood,  being  a  kind  of  voice  which, 
when  present,  always  diverts  me  from  what  I  am  about 
to  do,  but  never  urges  me  on.  This  it  is  which  opposed 
my  meddling  in  politics ;  and  it  appears  to  me  to  have 
opposed  me  very  properly." 

In  this  and  passages  of  similar  import  are  to  be  found 
the  entire  elements  of  this  allegation.  Socrates  was 
constantly  in  the  habit  of  expressing  himself  as  moved 
and  influenced  by  the  god,  6  6eos  ;  by  a  divine  or  spir- 


THE  DEMON  OF   SOCRATES.  311 

itual  influence  —  ro  dcupovioy  —  or  TO  daifujvtov  <n//t«oi/  — 
translated  by  some  substantively  as  the  DEMON,  and  the 
sign  of  the  Demon  ;  by  a  voice  —  ^xawy  —  checking  him, 
but  never  urging  him  on. 

There  are  three  modes  of  interpretation  of  these 
forms  of  expression,  —  three  hypotheses  to  account  for 
the  facts.  The  first  is,  that  Socrates  used  these  words 
to  express,  figuratively  and  forcibly,  the  motions  of  con- 
science. The  second  is,  that  it  was  a  system  of  deceit 
practised  by  him  to  increase  his  power  over  the  minds 
of  his  hearers,  and  propagated  by  his  followers  to  add 
to  the  dignity  of  their  master,,  as  having  been  under  im- 
mediate Divine  guidance. 

The  third  opinion  is  the  one  adopted  or  suggested  by 
M.  Lelut,  that  Socrates  was  subject  to  hallucinations  of 
hearing,  —  perhaps  also  of  sight ;  that  he  was  therefore 
a  visionary,  —  a  madman  ! 

We  will  briefly  follow  the  arguments  and  considera- 
tions relative  to  the  psychological  history  of  Socrates, 
by  which  M.  Lelut  endeavors  to  support  this  view.  He 
introduces  the  subject  thus  :  — 

"  Since  Plato  and  Xenophon,  all  the  writers  who  have 
examined  with  any  precision  the  thoughts  and  acts  of 
Socrates  have  united,  under  the  generic  title  of  DEMON, 
or  Familiar  Spirit,  all  that  part  of  those  thoughts  and 
acts  relative  to  the  singularities  of  his  life  which  is  be- 
yond the  common  course.  I  mean  his  inspirations,  his 
presentiments,  his  prophecies,  and  especially  that  di- 
vine Voice  which  he  heard,  or  said  that  he  heard  ;  which 
impelled  him  to  no  action,  but  deterred  him  from  many 
which  might  have  been  unjust  or  dangerous  ;  a  voice 
which  enabled  him  at  many  times  to  give  to  his  friends 
and  disciples  counsels,  which  they  always  found  good  to 
follow,  and  dangerous  to  neglect. 

"  In  recognizing  and  exalting  the  purity  and  sublimity 


312  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  his  life,  the  admirable  consecutiveness  of  his  thoughts 
and  actions,  all  writers  have  remarked  something  extraor- 
dinary and  eccentric  in  this  life  exclusively  consecrated 
to  the  triumph  of  one  or  two  ideas,  and  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  same  design Not  only  was  he  a 

singular  youth,  but  he  had  been  a  singular  child,  —  of  a 
meditative  spirit  doubtless ;  of  great  capacity  ;  but  as- 
suredly of  an  equally  great  peculiarity  :  of  this  no  fur- 
ther proof  is  needed  than  the  counsel  of  the  Oracle  to 
leave  him  to  his  own  natural  instincts,  and  own  confes- 
sion that  from  a  child  he  had  felt  the  influence  of  the 
genius  in  question. 

"  Socrates,  then,  had  from  his  earliest  years  a  singu- 
larity (I  lay  stress  upon  the  word)  which  his  mature  age 
was  not  to  belie.  Was  he  not  in  reality  a  singular  man, 
this  Socrates,  clothed  in  the  same  mantle  in  all  weathers 
and  seasons,  —  walking  barefoot  upon  the  ice  as  upon 
the  parched  and  heated  soil  of  Greece,  —  dancing  and 
leaping,  often  alone,  by  fits  and  starts,  —  leading,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  vulgar,  the  most  eccentric  life,  —  having  no 
other  occupation  than  to  pervade  the  public  places  and 
the  workshops  of  the  artisans,  —  pursuing  every  one 
with  his  questions  and  his  irony,  —  receiving  nothing 
from  friends  or  disciples,  yet  asking  them  for  a  coat 
when  necessary,  —  acquiring,  in  fine,  by  his  conduct  and 
manners,  such  a  reputation  for  eccentricity,  that  he  was 
afterwards  surnamed  by  Zeno  the  Epicurean,  as  Cicero 
relates,  Atticus  scurra,  the  buffoon  of  Athens,  —  what 
we  should  now  call  an  original  1 

"  Notwithstanding  these  things,  the  Oracle  of  Delphi. 
when  consulted  by  Chserepho  as  to  who  was  the  \\ 
man  of  Greece,  replied  :  Sophocles  is  wise,  Euripides 
is  wiser,  but  Socrates  is  wisest  of  men.  Thereupon  Soc- 
rates, who  wished  to  understand  the  meaning  of  this, 
commenced  amongst  all  professions  in  Athens  that  sin- 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  313 

gular  course  of  interrogations,  which  by  demonstrating 
the  ignorance  of  those  who  were  accounted  wise,  drew 
upon  him  the  hatred  of  so  many. 

"  Psychologically  speaking,  the  matter  might  have 
rested  there,  and  he  have  been  only  accounted  a  singu- 
lar and  extraordinary  man,  if  he  had  not  from  his  infan- 
cy been  disposed  to  take  the  inspirations  of  his  con- 
science for  the  voice  of  a  supernatural  agent.  This 
thought,  too  lively,  too  ardent,  too  much  disposed  to 
transfer  itself  to  the  exterior,  to  clothe  itself  with  person- 
ality, to  become  an  image,  or  at  least  an  audible  voice, 
took  in  effect  this  last  form ;  and  then  commenced  all  at 
once  the  hallucinations  of  Socrates,  that  .is  to  say,  the 
most  undeniable  form  of  alienation  (Cespece.  de  folie  la 
plus  irrefragable)" 

M.  Lelut  considers  the  actual  insanity  of  Socrates  to 
have  commenced  at  the  siege  of  Potidsea,  where  he 
served  with  distinction  as  an  oplite,  and  where  he  had 
a  fit  of  abstraction,  which  appeared  like  an  ecstasy  or 
trance.  We  find  an  account  of  this  given  by  Alcibiades 
in  the  "  Banquet,"  which  it  may  be  well  to  give  entire  :  — 

"  But  what  this  patient  man  did  do  and  dare  during 
the  campaign  there,  it  is  worth  while  to  hear.  For  while 
he  was  thinking  of  some  question  for  himself,  he  stood 
from  the  dawn  investigating  it :  and  as  he  did  not  succeed, 
he  did  not  desist,  but  stood  still  investigating  it.  It  was 
midday,  and  some  persons  perceived  him,  and,  wondering, 
said  that  Socrates  had  been  standing  from  the  morning 
thinking  upon  something.  At  length  some  Ionian  sol- 
diers, when  it  was  evening,  having  supped,  —  for  it  was 
then  summer,  —  brought  out  their  ground-litters,  and 
partly  slept  in  the  cold,  and  partly  kept  watch,  whether 
lie  would  stand  there  all  night.  And  he  did  stand  until 
the  dawn  appeared  and  the  sun  rose  ;  after  which  he 
departed,  having  first  offered  a  prayer  to  the  sun." 
14 


314  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

In  commenting  upon  this  relation,  M.  Lelut  observes 
that  we  must  either  deny  the  facts,  or  "  recognize  in 
them  the  commencement  of  a  condition  which  no  one 
would  voluntarily  experience,  even  to  possess  all  the 
virtue  and  all  the  glory  of  the  son  of  Sophroniscus." 
Not  to  interfere  with  the  general  course  of  the  argu- 
ment, I  would  merely  suggest  that  this  does  not  appear 
to  me  an  exhaustive  view  of  the  subject,  but  that,  recog- 
nizing the  facts,  we  need  not  attach  so  serious  an  im- 
port to  them.  It  is  not  impossible  that  he  who  had 
turned  his  back  upon  an  old,  worn-out,  effete  system  of 
philosophy,  and  who  out  of  the  depths  of  his  own 
thought  had  eliminated  the  great  truths  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  the  certainty  of  a  future  state 
of  rewards  and  punishments,  —  who  from  a  chaotic 
Polytheism  had  arrived  at  the  belief  in  OXE  GOD,  the 
CREATOR  and  upholder  of  all  things,  —  it  is  not  impossi- 
ble that  such  a  man  may  have  been  so  wrapt  and  lost 
in  the  opening  immensity  and  profundity  of  these  con- 
siderations as  to  become  insensible  to  surrounding  ob- 
jects for  even  so  long  a  time  as  is  here  mentioned. 
Archimedes  and  Newton  were  not  suspected  of  madness 
because  of  their  frequent  and  prolonged  reveries;  and 
their  problems  yield  in  vastness  to  those  that  engaged 
this  colossal  mind. 

M.  Lelut  relates  one  or  two  other  instances  of  his 
reveries,  or,  as  he  would  style  them,  ecstasies ;  and  then 
proceeds  to  quote  from  the  "  Dialogues  of  Plato  "  most 
of  the  passages  where  Socrates  speaks  of  himself  as  in- 
fluenced by  the  god  (6  6tos),  the  demon  (TO  8ai/*owo»/),  or 
the  voice  (fj  <j>a>vr)).  Some  of  them  are  certainly  remarka- 
ble. In  the  "  Philebus,"  Socrates  uses  this  expression  :  — 

"  At  the  moment  of  passing  the  water,  I  felt  the  di- 
vine signal  (TO  daipoviov  aq/ieioi/),  which  is  familiar  to  me, 
and  the  presence  of  which  always  arrests  me  at  the  mo- 


THE  DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  315 

ment  of  action.  I  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  which  forbid 
me  to  cross."  This  would,  so  far,  appear  to  argue  a  be- 
lief in  some  separate  personality ;  but  an  examination 
of  the  following  remark  modifies  this  impression  much. 
"  Such  as  you  see  me,  I  am  a  diviner  (ei/ui  &;  /xairif  /z«/), 
—  not  a  very  able  one,  truly ;  I  resemble  those  whose 
writing  is  only  legible  to  themselves,  —  I  know  enough 
for  my  own  purposes.  The  human  soul  has  a  prophetic 
power."  Here  the  same  powers  are  spoken  of  as  per- 
sonal, —  not  as  communicated  from  without. 

Some  of  the  most  remarkable  passages,  however,  are 
those  in  which  Socrates  speaks  of  his  influence  over  his 
pupils,  in  which  some  mysticism  may  readily  be  dis- 
covered by  those  engaged  in  the  search  after  it.  In  the 
"  Theages,"  Socrates  relates  a  conversation  of  his  own 
with  Aristides,  the  son  of  Lysimachus,  by  way  of  illustrat- 
ing this  influence.  He  represents  Aristides  as  saying :  — 

"  I  am  going  to  relate  a  thing  which  might  appear  in- 
credible, but  which  is  nevertheless  true.  I  have  never 
learnt  anything  from  you,  as  you  very  well  know.  And 
yet,  when  with  you,  even  in  the  same  house,  though  not 
in  the  same  room,  I  have  always  profited  in  wisdom ; 
when  in  the  same  room,  I  have  advanced  more  rapidly 
still ;  but  most  of  all  when,  being  in  the  same  room,  I 
had  my  eyes  fixed  upon  yours ;  or  most  especially  if  I 
sat  near  you  and  touched  you." 

Socrates  then  continues  :  — 

"  Such,  dear  Theages,  is  the  commerce  that  one  may 
have  with  me.  If  it  please  the  god  (ro>  0«o>),  you  will,  by 
being  near  me,  profit  much,  and  in  little  time  ;  but  if  not, 
your  efforts  will  be  in  vain.  Consider  then  whether  it 
will  not  be  more  advantageous  to  you  to  attach  yourself 
to  some  master  who  will  certainly  be  useful  to  you,  rather 
than  to  follow  one  who  cannot  answer  for  anything." 

M.  'Lelut  remarks  upon  this  :  — 


316  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

"  I  cannot  refrain  from  pointing  out  how  strange  in 
their  nature  and  development,  how  truly  maniacal  (veri- 
tablement  maniaque)  in  principle,  are  the  beliefs  and  pre- 
tensions announced  in  the  last  passage.  Here  is  Socra- 
tes, who  not  only  imagines  that  he  receives  divine  influ- 
ences and  inspirations,  and  hears  a  divine  voice ;  but 
who,  by  reason  of  this  privilege,  believes  that  he  pos- 
sesses a  similar  influence,  even  at  a  distance,  upon  his 
friends,  his  disciples,  and  even  strangers ;  an  influence 
independent  of  word  or  look,  exerting  itself  even  through 
walls.  In  truth,  it  is  impossible  to  hear  or  see  anything 
more  extravagant  or  more  characteristic  of  madness  ;  et 
les  hallucines,  qui,  sous  nos  yeux,  pretendent  envoyer  ou 
recevoir  a  distance  des  influences  physiques,  magnetiques, 
franc-magonniques,  ne  s'expriment  pas  autrement  que 
Socrate,  et  ne  sont,  sous  ce  rapport,  pas  plus  fous  qu'il 
ne  Fetait"  12 

M.  Lelut  then  passes  on  to  comment  upon  the  expres- 
sions used  by  Socrates  in  his  defence,  with  reference  to 
the  divine  influence  under  which  he  acted  ;  and  he  is  of 
opinion  that  these  develop,  in  the  most  formal  manner, 
as  obvious  and  inveterate  hallucinations  of  hearing  as 
were  ever  observed  by  a  physician.  The  passages  are 
too  long  to  cite  jtextually.  In  the  "  Apology,"  Socrates 
repeatedly  uses  all  the  forms  already  quoted,  —  profess- 
ing in  all  matters  to  act  under  the  immediate  influence, 
guidance,  and  direction  of  the  divinity  (TOV  0cov),  which, 
be  it  remarked,  is  attended  by  no  voice ;  but  to  be  re- 
strained from  action  by  the  voice,  or  Demon,  —  the  Quvr), 
or  Sainoviov  oypciov.  He  tells  the  Athenians  that  he  has 
pursued  the  course  of  life  which  they  so  reprobate,  in- 
fluenced by  the  god,  through  the  medium  of  dreams, 
oracles,  &c.  He  tells  them  that  he  has  refrained  i'mm 
preparing  a  defence,  because  the  Voice  prevented  him. 
Upon  all  this  M.  Lelut  puts  the  same  literal  interpreta- 
tion as  before  noticed. 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  317 

In  the  determination  to  represent  Socrates  as  the  vic- 
tim of  hallucinations,  he  extends  them  from  the  ear  to 
the  eye,  and  insists  that  Socrates  saw  his  Demon  as  well 
as  heard  it,  —  though  he  himself  emphatically  disclaims 
such  a  vision,  and  moreover  disputes  its  possibility.  He 
says  that  there  are  gods,  who  preside  over  the  well-being 
of  men,  but  that  only  their  works  are  visible  in  results ; 
and  that  neither  they  themselves  nor  their  immediate 
agents  (as  the  thunderbolt)  are  visible  or  palpable  at 
any  time.  ("  Memorabilia,"  lib.  iv.)  Yet  on  the  strength 
of  a  vague  conjecture  of  Apuleius,  M.  Lelut  says  he  has 
no  doubt  that  the  eye  was  subject  to  a  corresponding 
hallucination  with  the  ear ;  and  an  equally  unsatisfactory 
testimony  states  that  the  sense  of  touch  was  similarly 
affected.  In  his  general  summary  he  says  :  — 

"  Socrates  had  ecstasies,  almost  accessions  of  catalepsy, 
as  happened  to  him  at  the  siege  of  Potidaea,  and  else- 
where. Soon  these  ecstasies  assumed  the  character  of  more 
definite  hallucinations,  shorter,  but  more  frequent, — 
hallucinations  of  the  general  tact  or  sensibility  internal 
or  external ;  hallucinations  especially  of  hearing,  and 
most  probably  of  vision.  Nothing  assuredly  can  be  more 
extraordinary  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  nothing  can  be 
more  irrefragable  as  a  criterion  of  insanity  than  these 
hallucinations." 

Socrates  had  undoubtedly  some  faith  in  dreams  of  a 
certain  character,  —  he  spoke  in  mysterious  phraseology 
also  of  the  prophetic  powers  of  the  spirit  of  man.  From 
all  these  considerations  combined,  M.  Lelut  concludes 
that  Socrates  was  insane. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  there  are  many  hitherto 
"  unrecognized  forms  of  insanity,"  developing  themselves 
in  peculiarities  and  changes  of  temper,  habits,  general 
disposition,  morals,  and  the  like.  But  it  appears  to  be 
a  retrograde  step,  and  one  likely  to  throw  discredit  upon 


318  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

psychological  inquiry,  and  to  subvert  all  useful  generali- 
zation, to  look  for  marks  of  insanity  in  a  close  adhesion 
to  the  modes  of  belief  of  any  particular  age  and  country, 
a  poetical  or  figurative  mode  of  expression,  and  a  habit 
of  revery; —  to  see  mental  aberration  in  slight  eccen- 
tricities of  conduct,  in  defiance  of  the  evidence  of  a  long 
life  characterized  by  the  acutest  and  most  comprehensive 
intelligence  that  perhaps  ever  adorned  man;  a  purity 
and  blamelessness  of  life  and  manners  which  not  even 
his  bitterest  enemies  could  impeach  ;  and  a  death  such 
as  might  well  have  crowned,  and  added  new  lustre  to, 
the  life  of  the  greatest  of  ancient  philosophers. 

When  analyzed,  the  evidence  upon  which  Socrates  is 
here  pronounced  insane  may  be  considered  under  these 
heads  :  (1)  His  belief  in  a  special  divine  mission  ;  (2) 
his  frequent  references  to  a  spiritual  monitor  or  Voice, 
called  by  some  his  Demon  or  Genius ;  (3)  his  reveries 
or  ecstasies  ;  (4)  his  belief  in  dreams  ;  (5)  his  belief  in, 
and  claims  of  possessing,  a  prophetic  power ;  and  (6) 
certain  eccentricities  of  habit  and  manner. 

1.  Socrates  was  in  the  constant  habit  of  expressing 
himself  as  acting  under  the  direct  influence  and  impulse 
of  the  god.  He  was  so  far  in  advance  of  the  great  ma- 
jority, if  not  all,  of  his  countrymen,  as  to  recognize  one 
Supreme  Power,  who  was  not  a  practical  nonentity  in  the 
world,  but  a  Creator  and  an  upholder,  and  who  exercised 
a  paternal  care  over  his  creatures.  As  a  stimulus  to 
action  he  always  recognized  this  power,  piously  acknowl- 
edging that  all  ability  and  all  disposition  to  action  came 
from  this  source.  When  Aristodemus  inquired  into 
the  nature  of  this  influence,  he  advised  him  to  pay 
special  and  assiduous  court  to  the  gods,  that  they 
may  exert  a  similar  one  over  him  :  thus,  in  this  in- 
stance, at  least,  disclaiming  any  peculiar  theurgic  man- 
ifestation. 


THE  DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  319 

2.  The  case  is  somewhat  different  with  regard  to  the 
especial  monitor  or  Voice,  to  which  he  so  constantly 
alludes.  Though  acknowledging  one  Supreme  Power,  he 
did  not  entirely  forsake  the  Polytheism  of  his  country  ; 
but  believed  in  certain  inferior  orders  of  spirits,  called 
Demons,  who  were  the  immediate  agents  in  carrying  out 
the  Supreme  will.  Of  these  he  believed  that  one  (or 
more)  was  appointed  to  every  man  to  be  his  guardian,  — 
to  perform  near  him  certain  providential  functions.  In 
the  "Phsedo,"  giving  his  friends  a  summary  of  his  creed, 
amongst  other  things  he  says,  that  "  each  person's 
demon,  who  was  assigned  to  him  while  living,  when  he 
dies,  conducts  him  to  some  place  where  they  that  are 
assembled  together  must  receive  sentence,  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  Hades  with  that  guide,  who  has  been  ordered  to 
conduct  them  from  hence  thither.  But  then  having  re- 
ceived their  deserts,  and  having  remained  the  appointed 
time,  another  guide  brings  them  back  hither  again, 
after  many  and  long  revolutions  of  time."  This  belief 
seems  not  to  have  been  contrary  to  that  of  the  ancient 
world  generally,  ''insomuch,"  says  Mr.  Grote,  on  this  sub- 
ject, "  that  the  attempts  to  resolve  phenomena  into  gen- 
eral laws  were  looked  upon  with  a  certain  disapprobation, 
as  indirectly  setting  it  aside."  This  may  be  granted 
then,  that  he  believed  in  the  existence  of  demons  with  a 
special  mission  to  act  upon  nature  and  man,  one  of 
which  at  least  attended  upon  every  man.  But  he  fre- 
quently spoke  of  a  something  peculiar  to  himself,  an  influ- 
ence, a  voice,  which  diverted  him  from  any  act  which  he 
was  about  to  commit,  but  never  urged  him  on,  or  suggest- 
ed anything.  In  this  particular  it  differs  essentially  from 
the  motor  influence  noticed  under  the  former  head.  But 
this  restraining  power,  which  he  said  had  always  forbidden 
him  to  enter  on  public  life,  and  prevented  his  preparing 
any  formal  defence  at  his  trial,  —  this  power,  although 


320  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

spoken  of  by  many  writers  as  his  Demon  or  Genius,  — 
he  himself  never  personified,  but  spoke  of  it  as  a  "  kind 
of  voice,"  or  a  "  certain  divine  and  spiritual  influence  "  ; 
it  was  never  more  than  TO  or  TI  kupoviov,  with  or  with- 
out the  word  <n//i6ioi/  added,  —  or  (ftoavrj,  the  Voice. 
Critically,  it  is  acknowledged  that  the  former  phrase, 
which  M.  Lelut  always  translates  "  the  Demon,"  is  only 
properly  to  be  understood  adjectively,  even  when  the 
substantive  is  not  expressed  ;  and  therefore  that  it  can 
but  be  translated  "something  spiritual."  M.  Cousin,  the 
learned  translator  of  the  works  of  Plato,  holds  this  view 
as  undeniable  ;  and  one  of  the  highest  critical  authorities 
in  Europe,  Schleiermacher,  says  :  "  Semper  adjective  poni 
hanc  vocem,  neque  in  idlo  Xenophontis  aut  Platonis  ant 
aliorum  Scriptorum  cequalium  loco  substantive  de  deo 
accipi  debere."  Cicero  also  interprets  it  as  "  divinum 
quoddam."  It  seems  to  have  been  a  highly  figurative 
method  of  speaking  of  conscience  and  reason,  which  he 
conceived  to  be  stronger  in  him  than  in  other  men  (and 
in  so  far  peculiar  to  him  )  ;  inasmuch  as  his  recognition 
of  the  Divine  Power,  and  the  reverence  to  be  paid  there- 
to, was  more  intense  and  constant.  For  it  will  be  found 
that  almost  invariably  after  speaking  of  being  prevented 
by  this  "  divine  influence  "  from  adopting  any  particular 
course,  he  gives  some  human  and  rational  grounds  for 
such  a  determination.  Thus,  in  his  "  Apology,"  having 
related  how  this  Voice  had  always  prevented  him  med- 
dling in  public  affairs,  he  adds  :  — 

"  For  l)e  well  assured,  0  Athenians,  if  I  had  long  since 
attempted  to  intermeddle  with  politics,  I  .should  have 
perished  long  ago,  ;in<l  should  not  have  at  all  benefited 
either  you  or  myself.  And  be  not  angry  with  me  for 
speaking  the  truth  ;  for  it  is  not  possible  that  any  man 
should  be  safe  who  sincerely  opposes  you,  or  any  other 
multitude,  and  who  pi-events  many  unjust  and  illegal 


THE   DEMON   OF  SOCRATES.  321 

actions  from  being  committed  in  a  city  ;  but  it  is  neces- 
sary that  he  who  in  earnest  contends  for  justice,  if  he 
will  be  safe  for  but  a  short  time,  should  live  privately, 
and  take  no  part  in  public  affairs." 

And  when  he  stated  that  the  Voice  had  prevented  his 
preparing  beforehand  any  defence,  he  adds  the  reason 
why :  — 

"  For  what  has  befallen  me  appears  to  be  a  blessing  ; 
and  it  is  impossible  that  we  think  rightly  who  suppose 

that  death  is  an  evil To  a  good  man  nothing  is 

evil,  neither  while  living  nor  when  dead  ;  nor  are  his 
concerns  neglected  by  the  gods.  And  what  has  befallen 
me  is  not  the  effect  of  chance  ;  but  this  is  clear  to  me, 
that  now  to  die,  and  be  freed  from  my  cares,  is  better 
for  me." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  instances.  There  is 
scarcely  an  occasion  when  the  Voice  is  not  accounted  for 
in  a  manner  equally  rational. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  What  was  the  meaning  of  those 
strong  expressions,  which  seemed  to  imply  that  there  was 
an  actual  audible  voice  1  An  examination  of  a  passage  in 
the  "  Crito  "  will  show  that  these  were  purely  poetical 
or  figurative.  His  friend  Crito  had  come  early  one 
morning  to  the  prison,  after  his  condemnation,  with  the 
intent  to  persuade  him  to  escape.  Socrates  takes  the 
opportunity  to  discuss  with  Crito  the  duties  of  a  citizen ; 
and,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  shows  -that  he 
must  obey  the  established  laws  at  whatever  cost  to  him- 
self. He  shows  that  the  city  has  nurtured  him  and 
protected  him,  —  that  he  has  been  most  especially  a 
voluntary  citizen  of  Athens,  never  having  left  it,  except 
in  time  of  war ;  and  so  recognized  the  right  and  power 
which  her  laws  possessed  over  him.  He  then  personi- 
fies these  laws,  and  supposes  them  to  be  addressing  him, 
pointing  out  all  the  benefits  he  has  received  from  his 
14*  u 


322  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

country,  and  all  the  evil  that  might  result  from  his  at- 
tempting to  evade  the  decree,  concluding  thus  :  — 

"  But  now,  Socrates,  you  depart  (if  you  do  depart) 
unjustly  treated,  not  by  its,  but  by  men;  but  should  you 
escape,  having  thus  disgracefully  returned  injury  for  in- 
jury, and  evil  for  evil,  —  having  violated  your  own  com- 
pacts and  conventions  which  you  made  with  us,  and 
having  done  evil  to  those  to  whom  you  least  of  all  should 
have  done  it,  namely,  yourself,  your  friends,  your  coun- 
try, and  us  both, — we  shall  be  indignant  with  you  so  long 
as  you  live  ;  and  our  brothers,  the  laws  in  Hades,  will 
not  receive  you  favorably,  knowing  that  you  attempted, 
as  far  as  you  were  able,  to  destroy  us.  Let  not  Crito, 
then,  persuade  you  to  do  what  he  advises,  rather  than 
we." 

"  These  things,  my  dear  friend  Crito,  be  assured  I  hear 
as  the  votaries  of  Cybele  seem  to  hear  the  flutes.  And  the 
sound  of  these  words  booms  in  my  ear,  and  makes  me 
incapable  of  hearing  anything  else." 

And  thus  in  language  as  strongly,  if  not  more  strongly, 
implying  an  audible  voice,  than  any  which  he  uses  with 
regard  to  the  so-called  Demon,  he  gives  the  summary 
of  the  argument  which  by  his  own  reason  he  has  just 
eliminated  in  conversation  with  Crito.  And  in  this  there 
is  no  word  whatever  of  the  "  Voice."  Socrates  then 
acknowledged  himself  to  be  ever  acting  under  the  Divine 
will,  which,  when  impulsive,  he  calls  6  6tos  \  when  rea- 
soning, TO,  or  TI  daifioviov  oyfjiciov.  All  men  thus  acting 
who  obey  the  Divine  will,  this  influence  was  only  so  far 
peculiar  to  him  as  he  was  ever  recognizing  it,  making  it 
a  part  of  his  confessed  creed ;  and,  from  this  constant 
attention  to  it,  becoming  ever  more  conscious  of  it. 

Though  this  seems  to  have  been  perfectly  understood 
by  his  friends,  yet  from  various  causes  a  different  im- 
pression arose  subsequently.  For  purposes  of  their  own, 


TIIE  DEMON   OF  SOCRATES.  323 

his  accusers  interpreted  this  mode  of  speaking  into  an 
attempt  to  introduce  strange  gods  into  Athens,  and  to 
throw  discredit  upon  the  ancient  deities.  His  friends 
again,  and  his  admirers  in  after  times,  personified  this 
Voice,  by  way  of  magnifying,  as  they  supposed,  the  im- 
portance of  their  master,  as  having  been  under  an  especial 
supernatural  influence.  And  lastly,  other  writers  have 
brought  it  forward  as  a  proof  that  the  pagan  philosophers 
had  commerce  with  evil  spirits.  Thus,  Tertullian,  in 
his  "  Apology,"  says  that  "  Socrates  undertook  nothing 
without  the  privy  counsel  of  his  demon ;  and  no  wonder, 
when  this  familiar  is  said  to  have  kept  him  close  com- 
pany from  his  childhood  to  the  conclusion  of  his  life,  — 
continually,  no  doubt,  injecting  dissuasives  from  virtue." 
"  That  which  Plutarch  and  other  admirers  of  Socrates 
conceived  as  a  Demon  or  intermediate  Being  between 
gods  and  men,  was  looked  upon  by  the  Fathers  of  the 
Christian  Church  as  a  devil ;  by  Le  Clerc,  as  one  of  the 
fallen  angels ;  by  some  other  modern  commentators,  as 
mere  ironical  phraseology  on  the  part  of  Socrates  him- 
self." * 

3.  That  the  reveries  of  Socrates  were  of  the  nature  of 
ecstasy,  or  trance,  is  unsupported  by  any  evidence  ;  there 
is,  however,  some  to  the  contrary.     For,  having  fallen 
into  one  of  them  on  his  way  to  the  " Banquet"  with 
Aristodemus,  he  withdrew  into  a  porch,  and   stood  still, 
as  in  contemplation  ;  and  a  servant  having  been  sent  out 
to  summon  him,  he  refused  to  come  in.     All  this  bears 
no  similarity  to  the  insensibility  of  trance.     As  before 
remarked,    they    were   probably   instances   of  profound 
meditation. 

4.  His  belief  in  dreams  can  scarcely  be  gravely  brought 
forward  as  even  a  collateral  proof  of  unsoundness  of  mind. 
This  was  the  age  when  oracles,  omens,  and  dreams  were 

*  Grote's  "  History  of  Greece,"  Vol.  VIII.  p.  560. 


324  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

counted  amongst  the  most  important  guides  in  all  mat- 
ters ;  and  if  on  one  or  two  occasions  Socrates  showed 
that  he  was  not  entirely  free  from  the  belief  of  his  country, 
it  can  scarcely  be  considered  a  ground  for  reproach. 
Much  more  surprising  would  it  have  been  had  not  some 
tincture  of  superstition  adhered  in  those  days,  even  to 
so  original  and  gigantic  a  mind  as  his. 

5.  We  need  not  examine  in  detail  the  alleged  instances 
of  prophetic  power  which  he  claimed.     On  some  few  oc,- 
casions  he  did  predict  what  the  result  would  be,  as  to 
good  or  evil,  of  certain  both  personal  and  political  acts. 
But  he  generally  gave  the  reasons  for  these  conclusions, 
as  has  been  before  remarked  concerning  the  restraining 
power  of  the  Demon,  derived   from   ordinary  rational 
laws.       On   this    point    Mr.    Madden   observes   in    his 
"  Phantasmata  "  :  — 

"  It  may  be  presumed  that  the  Demon  of  Socrates  was 
nothing  more  than  the  rectitude  and  force  of  his  judg- 
ment, which,  acting  according  to  the  rules  of  prudence, 
and  with  the  aid  of  long  experience  supported  by  wise 
reflections,  made  him  foresee  the  events  of  those  things 
with  regard  to  which  he  was  either  consulted  by  others 
or  deliberated  upon  himself." 

6.  Socrates  was  undoubtedly  a  very  eccentric  man; 
but  eccentricity  is  not  insanity.     He  was  certainly  guilty 
of  having  a  hole  in  his  coat ;  he  went  about  barefoot ; 
if  he  had  no  supper,  he  would  sometimes  prefer  to  go 
without  rather  than  ask  for  one.     A  very  tiresome  man, 
too  ;  for,  like  a  gad-fly  (to  use  his  own  expression),  he 
would  fix  himself  upon  some  puffed-up  sophist,  and  with 
his  endless,  "  Tell  me,  now  "   —  "  But  explain  to  me  "  — 
he  would  drive  the  unfortunate  wight  into  such  a  maze 
of  contradictions  as  to  expose  his   profound   ignorance 
always  to  the  bystanders,  ami  sometimes  to  himself.      He 
could  not  forget  this  even  when  before  his  judges.     If 


THE   DEMON   OF   SOCRATES.  325 

Melitus  could  feel  at  all,  he  must  have  wished  himself 
rather  in  the  place  of  the  accused  than  the  accuser. 
But  in  all  this  there  is  no  sign  of  madness  ;  perhaps  this 
must  be  sought  in  his  moral  eccentricities ;  for  he  was 
temperate  in  a  circle  where  the  drunken  Alcibiades  was 
held  to  be  the  type  of  all  that  was  excellent  in  man  ;  he 
was  pure  where  impurity  assumed  its  most  disgusting 
aspects ;  he  was  virtuous  and  upright  where  selfishness 
was  the  only  recognized  law  ;  he  was  modest  where 
bloated  self-conceit  and  intellectual  pride  were  rampant ; 
above  all,  he  was  poor,  when  he  might  have  had  bound- 
less wealth. 

As  to  his  positive  and  direct  claims  to  be  considered 
a  man  of  sound  mind,  these  are  sufficiently  illustrated 
by  the  themes  of  his  perpetual  teaching,  —  a  teaching 
that  only  ended  with  his  life.  These  were,  modesty, 
self-distrust,  the  necessity  for  learning,  love  of  parents, 
temperance,  chastity,  obedience  to  the  laws,  piety  to- 
wards the  gods,  faith  in  their  providence,  and  the  recog- 
nition of  their  benefits ;  a  firm  belief  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  the  certainty  of  a  future  state  of  rewards 
and  punishments,  according  to  the  deeds  done  on  earth. 

In  reference  to  the  latter  themes,  one  passage  from  the 
"  Phsedo "  merits  quotation,  as  indicating  strongly  the 
very  far  advance  which  he  had  made  in  penetrating 
things  truly  divine.  Having  enumerated  certain  vices, 
he  adds :  — 

"  True  virtue  is  a  purification  from  such  things  ;  and 
temperance,  justice,  fortitude,  and  wisdom  itself  are  a 
kind  of  initiatory  purification.  And  those  who  instituted 
the  mysteries  for  us  appear  to  have  been  by  no  means 
contemptible,  but  in  reality  to  have  intimated  long  since 
that  whoever  shall  arrive  in  Hades  unexpiated  and  unini- 
tiated, shall  lie  in  mud ;  but  he  that  arrives  there  puri- 
fied and  initiated  shall  dwell  with  the  gods." 


326  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

We  may  not  dwell  further  upon  the  character  and 
teaching  of  this  wonderful  man.  We  protest  against 
the  endeavors  to  demonstrate  a  morbid  alienation  in  the 
mind  of  one  to  whom,  of  all  others,  philosophy  is  most 
indebted;  and  conclude  with  Mr.  Grote,  that  "no  man 
ever  looked  upon  life  with  a  more  positive  and  practical 
eye  ;  no  man  ever  pursued  his  mark  with  a  clearer  per- 
ception of  the  road  which  he  was  travelling ;  no  man 
ever  combined  in  like  manner  the  absorbing  enthusiasm 
of  the  Missionary  with  the  acuteness,  the  originality,  the 
inventive  resource,  and  the  generalizing  comprehension 
of  a  Philosopher." 


THE  AMULET   OF  PASCAL.  327 


THE  AMULET  OF  PASCAL. 

A  fragment  of  Biography ;  intended  as  a  second  illustra- 
tive Appendix  to  "  Illusions  and  Hallucinations" 

"  His  was  one  of  the  rare  minds,  apparently  adapted,  almost  in  equal 
measure,  to  the  successful  pursuit  of  the  most  diverse  departments 
of  philosophy  and  science,  of  mathematics  and  physics,  of  meta- 
physics and  criticism.  Many  have  transcended  him  in  knmcledge ; 
....  but  in  inventiveness  few  have  been  his  equals;  few,  even  in 
mathematics,  while  in  moral  science,  the  science  of  man,  we  know 
nothing  out  of  Bacon  and  Shakespeare  that  will  bear  comparison  in 
depth,  subtlety  and  comprehensiveness,  with  some  of  the  thoughts  of 
Pascal Endowed  with  originality  the  most  active  and  vari- 
ous, all  that  he  did  was  with  grace His  just  image  is  that  of 

the  youthful  athlete  of  Greece,  in  whom  was  seen  the  perfection  of 

physical  beauty  and  physical  strength The  moral  aspects  of 

Pascal's  character  are  as  inviting  as  those  of  his  intellect.  He  is 
one  of  the  very  few  who  as  passionately  pursue  the  acquisition  of 
moral  excellence  as  the  quest  after  speculative  truth ;  who,  practically 
as  well  as  theoretically,  believe  that  the  highest  form  of  humanity  is 

not  intellect,  but  goodness Few  men  have  ever  dwelt  on  the 

idea  of  moral  perfection,  or  sought  to  realize  its  image  in  themselves, 
with  more  ardor  than  Pascal. 

"  Upon  all  the  great  features  of  his  moral  character  one  dwells  with 
the  serenest  delight.  Much  as  he  is  to  be  admired,  he  is  more  to  be 
beloved.  His  humility  and  simplicity,  conspicuous  as  his  genius 

and  acquisitions,  were  those  of  a  very  child His  perfect  love 

of  truth  was  beautifully  blended  with  the  gentlest  charity;  and  his 
contempt  of  fraud  and  sophistry  never  made  him  forget,  while  in- 
dignantly exposing  them,  the  courtesies  of  the  gentleman  and  the 
moderation  of  the  Christian." 

THE  character  of  Pascal  here  introduced  is  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Henry  Rogers,  the  author  of  the  "  Eclipse 
of  Faith,"  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.  Our  object 
in  quoting  it  at  such  length  is  special.  There  are  those, 
and  not  a  few,  of  even  thoughtful  men,  who  consider  the 


328  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

existence  of  an  illusion  or  hallucination,  not  corrected  by 
the  understanding,  to  be  an  attribute  necessarily  of  an 
unsound  mind,  —  in  short,  of  an  insane  person.  This  po- 
sition we  do  not  hold,  and  as  a  moral  proof  to  the  con- 
trary, we  bring  forward  the  case  of  Pascal.  He  was  the 
subject  of  certainly  two  hallucinations,  one  of  which  was 
probably  never  corrected  by  reason  ;  with  regard  to  the 
other,  sense  and  reason  alike  continually  impressed  upon 
him  its  unreality,  yet  not  the  less  did  it  constantly  prey 
upon  his  mind,  influence  his  conduct,  and  affect  his  emo- 
tional nature.  Yet  it  would  be  a  strange  perversion  of 
terms,  to  call  the  man,  who  by  his  brilliant  genius, 
single-handed,  almost  annihilated  the  power  of  the  great 
order  of  the  Jesuits,  a  "  madman  !  " 

The  case  of  Pascal  differs  from  that  of  Socrates,  dis- 
cussed in  the  last  paper.  We  have  there  given  reasons 
for  disbelieving  that  Socrates  was  the  subject  of  any 
delusion.  But  it  appears  certain  that  Pascal  was  so. 
Yet  it  is  not  possible  to  do  otherwise  than  class  these 
two  men  together  as  those  who  have  not  been  for  a  gen- 
eration, or  a  century,  but  for  all  time.  To  comprehend 
the  full  force  of  the  incident  which  is  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  it  is  necessary  to  enter  into  a  very  brief  detail 
of  some  of  the  circumstances  of  Pascal's  early  life, 
chiefly  as  regards  his  medical  history7."  18 

At  a  very  early  age,  Pascal  evinced  great  peculiarities 
of  the  nervous  system.  When  not  more  than  a  year 
old,  he  had  a  very  serious  illness,  accompanied  by  two 
features  of  a  peculiar  kind.  He  could  not  bear  the  sight 
of  water  without  being  very  angry  ;  and  the  sight  of  1  ; 
father  and  mother  together  always  made  him  scream  vio- 
lently, although  his  affection  for  both  singly  was  very 
strong.  As  a  sequel  to  this  illness  he  seemed  to  die, 
and  continued  for  twelve  hours  in  such  a  state  that  lie 
could  not  be  supposed  to  be  alive.  After  this  he  slowly 


THE   AMULET   OF   PASCAL.  329 

recovered,  one  of  the  earliest  signs  of  amendment  being, 
that  he  could  bear  to  see  water  poured  out  from  one  ves- 
sel to  another. 

We  will  not  dwell  upon  the  remarkable  precocity  of 
genius  which  he  manifested,  as  that  belongs  to  his  general 
biography.  Yet  to  show  how  preternaturally  his  facul- 
ties were  excited,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  although  his 
parents  endeavored  to  restrain  his  development,  at  the  age 
of  ten  he  had  propounded  an  acoustic  theory  in  advance 
of  the  views  then  entertained  ;  at  twelve,  he  had  evolved 
geometry  from  his  own  reflections ;  at  fifteen,  he  com- 
posed a  treatise  on  conic  sections,  which  Descartes  re- 
fused to  believe  in  as  having  proceeded  from  so  young  a 
mind.  Thus,  probably,  he  at  once  exalted  and  injured 
a  naturally  delicate  and  sensitive  nervous  organization. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  his  health  began  to  fail,  and 
it  is  in  evidence  on  his  own  authority,  that  "  from  this 
time  he  never  ceased  to  suffer."  What  was  the  precise 
nature  of  the  sufferings  is  not  very  clear,  —  delicacy,  fa- 
tigue, headache,  sometimes  violent,  —  probably  a  general 
malaise,  rather  than  a  disease. 

When  twenty-three  years  of  age  he  had  an  attack  of 
partial  paraplegia,  being  so  weak  from  his  waist  down- 
wards that  he  could  only  walk  with  crutches.  This 
lasted  about  three  months,  and  then  disappeared.  He 
then  resumed  his  arduous  labors  in  physical  science ; 
always  in  suffering,  but  never  relaxing.  He  consulted 
physicians,  but  the  history  of  his  medical  treatment  is 
melancholy  and  need  not  be  pursued.  Finally,  his  con- 
stantly failing  strength,  his  "  insupportable  headaches," 
and  many  other  ailments,  compelled  him  to  sacrifice,  for 
a  time,  all  mental  exertion  ;  and  he  resolved  to  mix,  to 
some  extent,  with  the  world,  and  amuse  himself. 

It  was  whilst  in  the  world,  about  three  years  after 
this,  viz.  in  October,  1654,  that  the  great  cardinal  event 


330  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

of  his  life  occurred.  One  day  he,  was  crossing  the  Pout 
de  Neuilly  in  a  coach  drawn  by  four  or  six  horses,  when 
the  first  pair  took  fright,  and  drew  the  coach  towards  a 
part  of  the  bridge  where  the  parapet  was  broken  down. 
They  had  the  narrowest  possible  escape  from  being 
thrown  over  into  the  Seine.  The  horses  did  fall  in,  but 
fortunately  the  traces  broke,  and  the  carriage  remained 
almost  suspended  over  the  brink. 

This  accident  inflicted  a  severe  blow  on  his  nervous 
system.  "  Snatched  by  a  miracle  from  such  peril,  he 
reflected  upon  the  dreadful  result  to  his  eternal  salva- 
tion, had  he  been  called  away  while  mixing  with  the 
frivolities  of  the  world."  He  resolved  to  break  forever 
with  all  worldly  connections.  And  this  resolution  he 
carried  out ;  he  commenced  to  lead  a  life  more  retired 
and  humble  than  before,  and  hoped  to  reconcile  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  most  exalted  piety,  with  the  continuance 
of  his  ancient  studies.  "But,  says  the  Recueil  cT 
Utrecht,  God,  for  whom  this  was  not  enough,  took  from 
him  all  this  vain  love  of  science ;  and,  as  proof  of  his  will 
and  designs,  very  shortly  sent  him  a  vision" 

But  before  noticing  this  vision,  it  is  necessary  to  state 
that,  for  the  seven  or  eight  years  of  his  life  succeeding 
this  accident,  Pascal  was  subject  to  an  hallucination,  or 
"  false  sensation,"  the  immediate  consequence  of  the  ac- 
cident. In  his  nights  and  days  of  suffering,  one  con- 
stant aggravation  of  them  was  the  sensation  as  though 
a  chasm  or  precipice  was  close  upon  his  side,  over  which 
he  must  fall.  His  reason  told  him  that  the  sensation 
was  a  delusion,  but  feeling  was  too  strong  for  reason  ; 
and  very  often  he  could  not  sit  at  ease,  unless  fortified 
on  the  left  side  by  a  chair,  or  some  solid  obstacle,  —  the 
left  being  the  side  of  the  bridge  on  which  the  accident 
had  so  nearly  occurred. 

We  arrive  now  at   the  history  of  the  vision,  —  the 


THE   AMULET   OF   PASCAL.  331 

Amulet,  —  the  supposed  or  real  hallucination.  After 
the  death  of  Pascal,  there  was  found,  sewed  within  the 
folds  of  his  doublet,  a  parchment,  on  which  was  a  very 
remarkable  inscription,  and  containing  within  its  folds 
a  paper  on  which  was  a  copy  of  the  same.  Nothing  had 
been  known  of  this  during  his  lifetime  ;  he  had  evident- 
ly sewed  it  in  originally  himself,  and  himself  removed  it, 
as  change  of  garments  required.  He  had  never  men- 
tioned to  any  one  the  event  to  which  there  was  allusion, 
so  that  the  interpretation  can  only  be  conjectured,  but 
with  so  much  probability  that  there  is  not  much  danger 
of  erring  seriously. 

The  document  began  and  ended  with  the  sign  of  the 
Cross.  After  the  initial  mark,  the  date  was  inserted 
with  great  exactness,  as  "The  year  of  grace  1654,  Mon- 
day, the  23d  of  November."  Then  follow  the  saints' 
days,  and  after  that  these  remarkable  words  :  "  From 
about  half  past  ten  in  the  evening  until  half  past  twelve, 
FIRE."  Then  a  series  of  ejaculations,  devotional,  ecs- 
tatic, and  renunciatory.  The  greater  part  might  have 
been  taken  for  notes  for  contemplation,  and  suggestions 
for  after  thought.  But  this  would  not  be  consistent 
with  the  words  above  quoted,  nor,  above  all,  with  the 
evident  pains  taken  to  keep  a  constant  remembrance  of 
some  event,  occurring  on  the  date,  always  at  hand.  It 
was  Condorcet  who  first  directed  special  attention  to 
this  document,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Amulet  of  Pas- 
cal." 

There  can  be  little  doubt,  considering  all  the  evidence, 
that  Pascal  supposed  himself  to  have  been  favored  with 
a  vision  of  Fire,  probably  a  globe  of  fire,  on  which  was 
the  mark  of  the  Cross,  the  sign  and  token  of  the  cer- 
tainty of  his  salvation.  "  God  had  been  the  one  idea 
of  his  life,  and  this  idea  was  a  great  image,  reflected  in 
all  his  writings.  Under  great  spiritual  exaltation,  on 


332  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

the  night  of  the  23d  of  November,  1654,  the  image 
lias  left  the  mind,  has  become  objective ;  it  has  taken 
form,  and  the  vision  has  appeared."  Certain  it  is,  that 
from  this  time  forward  all  mundane  matters  and  affec- 
tions became  wellnigh  dead  to  him,  and  he  was  devoted, 
body  and  soul,  to  the  work  of  his  salvation  and  that 
of  others. 

The  remainder  of  the  physical  life  of  Pascal  was  one 
of  asceticism  and  suffering.  It  would  be  unnecessarily 
painful  to  pursue  the  details.  He  lived  some  years 
longer,  and  finally  died,  suffering  great  torments  from 
colic,  convulsions,  and  most  intolerable  headaches,  on 
the  9th  of  August,  1662. 

His  brain  was  examined  after  death ;  and  although 
the  pathology  of  that  day  is  not  easily  comprehended 
now,  it  seems  clear  that  there  was  some  remarkable  al- 
teration both  in  the  skull  and  brain.  The  former  was 
almost  entirely  without  any  mark  of  suture,  and  the 
latter  had  two  points  of  softening  "  in  or  around  which 
some  blood  was  effused." 

Any  extended  comment  on  such  a  case  would  be  su- 
perfluous. Whether  the  event  here  noticed  was  a  real 
hallucination,  or  a  dream,  recognized  and  known  as  such, 
but  the  remembrance  of  which  was  cherished  as  an  epoch 
in  mental  history,  the  lesson  is  the  same  as  regards  the 
effect  that  may  be  produced  on  a  nervous  organization 
of  such  exquisite  sensibility,  by  a  combination  of  natu- 
ral and  moral  causes  such  as  we  have  reviewed.  Socrates 
was  not  mad,  neither  was  Pascal,  yet  under  the  influ- 
ence of  mental  strivings  and  convictions,  one  spoke  and 
the  other  acted  as  though  influenced  by  sounds  and 
sights  not  usually  vouchsafed  to  sane  men. 

The  practical  moral  of  the  whole  is,  that  the  mind 
of  man  must  not  rashly  be  reduced  to  categories,  nor 
must  every  one  who  appears  to  have  a  delusion  be  hasti- 
ly pronounced  insane  and  irresponsible. 


VI. 
ON  SOMNAMBULISM. 

PROBLEM  :  To  what  extent  may  we  be  made  the  uncon- 
scious playthings  of  our  physical  organization  ? 

IN  what  are  called  by  courtesy  "  the  good  old  times  of 
good  Queen  Bess,"  our  ladies  could  eat  like  our  modern 
ploughmen  (if  accounts  be  true),  and  our  ploughmen 
like  boa-constrictors.  In  those  days  the  digestive  appa- 
ratus was  both  the  strong  and  the  weak  point  of  the 
system  :  they  could  get  an  immensity  of  work  out  of  it ; 
and  as  a  supplement,  its  disorders,  as  surfeits,  fevers 
and  inflammations,  were  rife  among  them.  The  nervous 
system  is  now  the  strong  and  the  weak  point ;  we  can 
get  a  greater  amount  of  work  out  of  brain  and  nerve 
than  our  ancestors  could,  and  the  consequence  is  that 
we  have  a  greater  preponderance  of  neuropathies  and 
psychopathies,  and  all  manner  of  strange  nervous  phenom- 
ena, of  a  morbid  and  quasi-morbid  character,  than  has  ever 
been  observed  before.  Our  polysyllabic  friend,  Feuchter- 
sleben,  says  that  "  the  fundamental  character  of  the 
present  generation  is  a  predominant  erethistic  vital  de- 
bility "  ;  and  although  the  expression  is  not  too  compre- 
hensible to  the  general  reader,  the  idea  is  correct  enough, 
if  he  means  (as  we  believe  he  does),  that  there  is  a  ten- 
dency to  a  morbidly  energetic  performance  of  certain 
functions,  more  especially  of  those  connected  with  the 
nervous  system.  Hence,  perhaps,  it  arises  that  notwith- 
standing all  our  boasted  and  all  our  real  intellectual  ad- 


334  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

vancement,  we  do  no  discredit  to  our  forefathers  as 
regards  the  energy  and  zcul  with  which  we  bear  our 
part  in  the  follies,  weaknesses,  and  insanities  of  our 
race  :  bravely  do  we  bear  up  our  character  for  credulity 
and  its  inevitable  attendant,  scepticism;  and  while  we 
profess  to  look  down  with  lofty  pity  upon  the  benighted 
ignorance  that  persecuted  those  who  were  accused  of 
witchcraft  or  demoniacal  intercourse  ;  that  looked  upon 
the  prophecies  of  Cevennes  and  the  convulsionnaires  of 
St.  Medard  as  veritable  influences  from  on  high ;  that 
attributed  the  phenomena  of  natural  science  to  a  power 
derived  from  evil  spirits,  —  we  have  our  own  innumerable 
forms  of  spiritual  fanaticism,  our  Jumpers,  Shakers, 
Apostle-Baptists,  Socialists,  Mormons,  &c.  Again  we 
have  a  recent  and  peculiar  manifestation  in  the  spiritual- 
ism of  our  age,  which  requires  a  careful  investigation  of 
the  morbid  and  exceptionable  forms  of  mental  and  ner- 
vous activity.  This  spiritualism  widely  prevails  in  all 
classes.  We  have  tables  that  turn  and  spirits  that  rap ; 
yea,  clairvoyants  that  predict  the  future,  reveal  the  dis- 
tant, or  communicate,  like  Holmes,  the  last  compositions 
of  Byron  and  Shelley  in  their  new  abodes.* 

Doubtless  there  is  a  large  element  of  imposture  in 
the  production  of  many  of  these  phenomena,  intended 
to  amuse  or  extract  money  from  the  credulous  ;  but  the 
whole  cannot  be  summarily  accounted  for  and  dismissed 
on  this  hypothesis  alone ;  the  testimony  to  their  reality 
is  in  some  cases  too  high  to  be  entirely  discredited  : 

*  The  spirit-faith  in  America  is  computed  to  embrace  two  millions 
of  believers,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  in  other  lands,  with  twenty 
thousand  mediums.  These  include  men  in  all  ranks  of  society,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest.  The  daily,  weekly,  monthly,  :i!i<l  quarterly 
journals  devoted  solely  to  Spiritualism  and  its  doings  may  be  counted 
in  the  United  States,  we  believe,  by  scores.  (This  was  the  C:IM-  ten 
years  ago;  I  do  not  think  the  numbers  are  by  any  means  decreased 
now,  — 1869.) 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  335 

moreover,  men  do  not  go  mad  upon  a  voluntary  imposi- 
tion ;  and  it  is  said  that  of  the  lunatics  confined  in 
asylums  in  the  United  States,  there  are  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  and  twenty  who  have  become  so  entirely 
owing  to  this  "  spirit-faith." 

In  the  Dark  Ages,  when  the  secrets  of  natural  science 
were  known  but  to  a  few,  those  adepts  who  could 
astonish  the  vulgar,  and  even  the  learned,  by  flashes, 
explosions,  and  apparitions,  were  accounted  to  be  assisted 
by  familiar  spirits ;  whilst  they  themselves  knew,  as  all 
the  world  does  now,  that  they  were  but  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  ordinary  properties  of  matter.  So  in  the 
present  day,  when  men  see  others  speaking,  writing,  and 
moving,  apparently  unconsciously,  and  exhibiting  other 
exceptional  phenomena  of  a  psychical  nature,  an  idea  be- 
comes extensively  received  (as  we  have  seen  above)  that 
there  is  something  supernatural  in  all  this,  and  recourse 
is  had,  as  of  old,  to  the  theory  of  spiritual  agency  to  ac- 
count for  it.  Whilst  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  modus 
operandi  of  the  nervous  system  in  its  normal  and  abnor- 
mal or  exceptionable  conditions,  recognize  such  phenom- 
ena as  old  acquaintance  dressed  in  guise  more  or  less  new; 
and  require  no  spirit  more  active,  tricksy,  or  mischievous 
than  itself  to  stand  godfather  to  its  own  strange  vagaries. 

None  of  the  phenomena  of  life  are,  strictly  speaking, 
explicable,  or  traceable  to  their  ultimate  cause,  but  they 
are  reducible  to  general  expressions,  and  susceptible  of 
illustration  by  analogies,  and  classification  according  to 
relations  ;  and  it  is  with  the  intention  of  indicating  the 
natural  position  of  the  phenomena  alluded  to,  in  a 
rational  classification,  that  we  propose  to  introduce  to 
the  notice  of  our  readers  some  of  the  more  exceptional 
manifestations  of  the  nervous  system,  both  in  its  bodily 
and  its  mental  relations.  That  form  which  we  have, 
selected  for  brief  illustration  in  the  present  paper  com- 


336  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

prises  both  these,  and  will  be  found  to  include  in  itself 
a  resume  of  almost  all  the  accounts  which  seein  so  won- 
derful, when  attached  to  the  history  of  a  spiritual 
seance.  It  is  also  especially  applicable  as  an  illustration 
of  our  intended  purpose  ;  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  as 
much  the  subject  of  superstitious  conjecture  as  the 
so-called  spiritual  manifestations  of  the  present  day. 
Horstius  informs  us  that  somnambulists  were  called  the 
"ill-baptized"  the  omission  of  part  of  the  ceremony 
being  supposed  to  have  subjected  them  to  the  influence 
of  spirits.  He  strongly  opposes  this  view,  and  considers 
somnambulists  to  be  truly  prophets,  and  under  the  im- 
mediate influence  of  angels.  Like  all  other  phenomena 
which  appear  to  pass  the  bounds  of  the  average  knowl- 
edge of  mankind,  these  have  been  summarily  accounted 
for  by  supernatural  influence. 

In  common  with  all  animals  which  possess  well-defined 
sensuous  relations  with  the  external  world,  man  exists  in 
two  distinct,  and,  so  far  as  the  organs  of  these  relations 
are  involved,  opposed  conditions,  —  one  of  waking  and 
one  of  sleep,  labor  and  repose  alternating.  Under  cer- 
tain limitations,  this  alternation  appears  to  be  a  general 
law  of  organization,  more  or  less  modified  according  to 
the  varying  complexity  of  the  functions  of  life.  It  is 
true  that  in  sleep  only  the  animal  or  relational  functions 
are  at  rest ;  the  repose  of  the  tissues  concerned  in  vege- 
tative life  is  of  much  shorter  duration,  action  and  rest 
recurring  every  instant.  It  is  in  accordance  with  the 
same  principles  that  we  find  the  amount  and  regularity 
of  sleep  in  great  measure  proportionate  to  the  develop- 
ment of  relational  life.  In  the  higher  carnivorous  ver- 
tebrata,  where  the  muscular  and  nervous  tissues  arc  at 
the  maximum  development,  sleep  is  much  more  required 
than  in  those  of  lower  type,  where  the  nutritive  func- 
tions appear  predominant ;  and  in  those  lowest  forms  of 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  337 

organic  existence  which  still  appear  to  have  some  trace 
of  animal  nature,  but  whose  chief  and  entire  function 
appears  to  be  assimilative,  we  have  no  evidence  of  the 
occurrence  of  the  phenomenon  at  all.  As  might  be 
expected,  it  is  in  man,  where  the  balance  of  the  two 
classes  of  functions  is  most  evident,  and  where  the 
operations  are  still  more  complicated  by  the  super-addi- 
tion of  an  intellectual  nature,  that  the  periodical  recur- 
rence of  repose  is  most  marked,  and  its  regularity  most 
essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  individual. 

It  will  materially  assist  our  investigation  into  some  of 
the  interesting  phenomena  involved  in  our  subject,  if  we 
briefly  examine  the  points  of  contrast  between  these  two 
opposed  conditions,  as  well  as  the  points  of  resemblance, 
and  those  states  in  which  they  appear  to  trespass  upon 
each  other's  domains. 

What  are  the  characteristics  of  a  healthy  waking  man, 
mens  sana  in  corpore  sano  ?  —  As  the  basis  of  all  his 
knowledge,  and  of  all  his  actions,  there  is  a  profound 
conviction  and  consciousness  of  distinct  existence  and 
personality,  a  strong  intuitive  and  undefinable,  yet  irre- 
fragable, sense  of  the  unchanging  "  I."  (It  is  necessary 
to  mention  this  fundamental  truth,  because  in  dreaming, 
and  certain  forms  of  insanity,  it  is  very  frequently  utterly 
lost  from  the  mind.)  This  consciousness  is  modified  and 
intensified  by  the  evidence  of  the  senses,  —  these  respond 
instantaneously  and  accurately  to  their  own  appropriate 
stimuli,  the  eye  to  the  undulations  of  light,  the  ear  to 
the  vibrations  of  sound,  and  so  on  with  the  other  senses, 
none  of  which  can  supply  the  place  of  another ;  nor  is 
the  general  sense  of  touch  ever  capable  of  being  exalted 
to  the  condition  of  a  special  sense.  But  not  only  do 
these  organs  take  cognizance  of  the  external  world  and 
its  phenomena,  but  the  mind  receives  the  impressions 
from  them,  and  is  prepared  at  once  to  exercise  upon  them 
15  v 


338  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

its  various  functions ;  memory,  imagination,  fancy,  com- 
parison, judgment,  calculation,  all  these,  and  all  other 
faculties  into  which  metaphysicians  have  dissected  the 
Divine  spark,  are  either  in  activity,  or  ready  to  be  so,  at 
the  command  of  the  will.  Finally,  the  muscular  system 
obeys  accurately  the  mandates  of  the  will. 

So  far  as  to  the  positive  phenomena,  —  but  the  nega- 
tive indications  of  health  and  wakefulness  are  not  less 
important  for  our  purposes.  These  may  be  briefly 
summed  up  in  a  few  words,  —  complete  unconscioiisness  of 
all  organic  or  vegetative  processes.  And  during  this  time 
a  waste,  both  of  substance  and  of  vital  energy,  is  going 
on,  which  requires  the  periodical  return  of  sleep  for  its 
repair,  the  phenomena  of  which  condition  we  have  now 
to  notice. 

"  Somne,  quies  rerum,  placidissime,  Somne,  Deorum, 
Pax  animi  quern  cura  fugit  — " 

Thus  by  negations  is  sleep  invoked  by  the  ancient  poet ; 
and  certainly  sleep  in  its  perfect  form  is  only  to  be  de- 
scribed by  negations,  with  the  exception  of  the  continu- 
ance of  the  organic  functions,  which  remain  nearly 
unaffected,  or  in  some  cases  increased  in  intensity,  as 
Hippocrates  justly  observed,  somnus  labor  visceribus. 
Perfect  sleep  is  characterized  by  a  complete  and  profound 
unconsciousness  of  everything,  even  of  existence,  —  the 
senses  are  closed  against  all  impressions,  the  limbs  have 
become  relaxed  and  inactive,  even  volition,  in  common 
with  every  other  faculty  of  the  mind,  is  in  abeyance,  — 
phenomena  well  and  elegantly  portrayed  by  Lucretius,  — 

"  Ubi  est  distracta  per  artus 
Vis  animae  — 

Debile  fit  corpus,  languescunt  omnia  membra, 
Brachia,  palpebraeque  cadunt,  poplitesque  procumbunt." 

Many  extraordinary  histories  are  related  in  illustration 
of  the  extent  to  which  insensibility  to  outward  imprea- 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  339 

sions  may  be  carried  ;  one  will  suffice  as  an  extreme  case. 
It  is  quoted  by  Dr.  Carpenter,  with  tokens  of  credence, 
from  Mr.  R.  Smith,  late  senior  surgeon  to  the  Bristol 
Infirmary,  under  whose  observation  it  occurred.  "A 
travelling  man,  one  winter's  evening,  laid  himself  down 
upon  the  platform  of  a  lime-kiln,  placing  his  feet,  proba- 
bly numbed  with  cold,  upon  the  heap  of  stones  newly 
put  on  to  burn  through  the  night.  Sleep  overcame  him 
in  this  situation ;  the  fire  gradually  rising  and  increasing 
until  it  ignited  the  stones  upon  which  his  feet  were 
placed.  Lulled  by  the  warmth,  the  man  slept  on  ;  the 
fire  increased  until  it  burned  one  foot  (which  probably 
was  extended  over  a  vent-hole)  and  part  of  the  leg  above 
the  ankle,  entirely  off,  consuming  that  part  so  effectually 
that  a  cinder-like  fragment  was  alone  remaining,  and  still 
the  poor  wretch  slept  on  ;  and  in  this  state  was  found  by 
the  kilnman  in  the  morning."  He  experienced  no  pain 
when  he  awoke,  but  he  died  in  hospital  about  a  fortnight 
afterwards.  It  appears  probable,  however,  that  the 
atmosphere  in  this  case  was  charged  with  carbonic  acid, 
and  that  the  sleep  was  nearly  approaching  to,  if  not  al- 
together identical  with,  coma. 

Sleep  is  not  always,  nor  even  commonly,  thus  profound ; 
yet,  even  under  its  ordinary  aspects,  it  presents  such  a 
picture  of  inactivity  as  to  have  been  considered  by  many, 
both  poets  and  philosophers,  as  nearly  related  to  death. 
"  Sleep,"  says  Macnish,  "  is  the  intermediate  state  be- 
tween wakefulness  and  death."  Diogenes  is  said  to  have 
spoken,  in  his  last  moments,  of  death  and  sleep  as  brother 
and  sister.  Cicero  speaks  thus  of  the  affinity,  —  nihil 
videmus  morti  tarn  simile  quam  somnum  ;  and  Ovid  in  like 
manner  asks,  — 

"  Quid  est  somnus,  gelidae  nisi  mortis  imago?  " 
Yet  the  analogy  is  much  more  poetical  than  true  ;  sleep 


340  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PKOBLEMS. 

is  as  far  removed  from  death  as  muscular  repose  is  from 
paralysis.  It  is  probably  the  normal  state  of  fatal  exist- 
ence, and  throughout  life  it  is  the  great  agent  in  repairing 
the  ravages  of  constant  molecular  changes,  and  averting 
the  ever-threatening  somatic  death. 

The  most  usual  form  of  sleep  is  by  no  means  so  pro- 
found as  that  which  we  have  described ;  some  of  the 
functions,  both  animal  and  intellectual,  are  often  at  work, 
and  dreaming,  .with  or  without  accompanying  action,  is 
the  result.  In  such  a  case,  a  kind  of  consciousness  is 
restored,  yet  often  with  peculiar  modifications,  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  being  the  loss  of  that  distinct  sense  of 
individuality  by  which  the  waking  man  has  been  said  to 
be  characterized.  Imagination  and  memory  are  both 
awake  at  times  more  active  than  in  true  wakefulness  ; 
but  they  play  strange  tricks  with  each  other  and  with 
their  possessor.  He  can  contemplate  his  own  murder,  or 
attend  his  own  funeral,  without  any  feeling  of  surprise 
or  awe  ;  he  can  commit  the  most  fearful  crimes  without 
any  horror  ;  he  sees  the  most  tremendous  convulsions  of 
Nature  and  the  utter  subversion  of  her  ordinary  laws 
without  astonishment ;  he  converses  with  the  dead,  yet 
asks  not  how  they  have  escaped  their  prison-house  ;  and 
with  the  living,  whom  he  knows  to  be  separated  from 
him  by  seas  and  continents  ;  and  all  seems  natural  and  a 
matter  of  course.  Truly  has  sleep  a  thousand  sons  (na- 
torum  mille  suorum,  Ovid) 

Such  are  the  ordinary  and  typical  forms  of  man's 
two  lives,  —  the  waking  and  the  sleeping  life  ;  yet  in 
this,  as  in  all  other  instances,  nature  does  nothing  by 
sudden  leaps  (nihil  per  saltum).  As  night  and  day  are 
united  by  twilight,  —  as  the  two  great  divisions  of  or- 
ganic existences  merge  into  each  other  through  the 
scarce  distinguishable  classes  of  phytozoa  and  zoophyta, 
—  as  the  various  genera  of  both  sub-kingdoms  are 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  341 

united  by  links  very  nearly  allied  to  both  the  neighbors, 
—  so  waking  allies  itself  to  sleep  by  abstraction  and 
rervery,  —  so  sleep  allies  itself  to  waking  by  dreaming, 
by  sleep-talking,  and  by  the  sleep-vigil,  commonly  called 
Somnambulism.  So  closely  allied  are  the  extreme  forms 
of  revery  and  of  somnambulism,  —  so  difficult  in  some 
cases  is  it  to  state  the  precise  diagnostic  marks,  —  that 
a  few  remarks  on  the  former  will  properly  precede  and 
illustrate  our  more  especial  theme.  Revery  is  a  state 
of  the  mind,  in  which  it  wanders  to  a  thousand  differ- 
ent subjects  independent  of  volition,  —  the  attention 
cannot  be  directed  to  any  one  point ;  on  the  other  hand, 
abstraction  is  characterized  by  the  total  absorption  of 
the  mind  in  one  subject,  the  senses  taking  cognizance 
only  of  such  matters  as  are  connected  with  the  subject 
under  examination.  Distinct  as  are  these  two  condi- 
tions in  their  origin,  they  are  often  confounded  together ; 
and,  indeed,  the  external  phenomena  are  similar,  being 
summed  up  in  a  more  or  less  complete  insensibility  to 
surrounding  objects  or  influences.  These  conditions  will 
be  investigated  in  the  succeeding  paper  on  "Revery  and 
Abstraction."  We  should  not  have  dwelt  so  long  on 
these  preliminary  topics,  but  for  the  light  which  they 
seem  calculated  to  throw  upon  the  connections  of  the 
Sleep-vigil,  —  a  term  which  we  prefer  to  Somnambulism, 
inasmuch  as  this  latter  expresses  only  the  activity  of  one 
function,  —  locomotion,  —  which  is  by  no  means  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  phenomena. 

From  the  state  of  profound  unconsciousness  above  de- 
scribed, to  a  condition  with  difficulty  distinguished  from 
waking,  we  meet  with  every  possible  gradation.  The 
faculties  one  after  another  awake,  until  in  some  cases  we 
meet  with  perfectly  lucid  somnambulism.  The  first  step 
to  this  is  dreaming.  Dreams  for  the  most  part  are  in- 
coherent, shadowy  resemblances  of  scenes  and  ideas  be- 


342  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

fore  experienced,  most  frequently  in  new  and  grotesque 
combinations.  The  reason  and  judgment  are  in  abey- 
ance, —  we  reason,  and  feel  satisfied  with  the  justice 
and  propriety  of  our  conclusions ;  we  compose  verses 
which  charm  us  with  their  elegant  cadence,  yet  if  we 
can  recall  these  processes  when  we  awake,  our  arguments 
are  nonsense,  and  our  lines  doggerel.  Much  more  rarely, 
the  dream  is  not  a  repetition  merely  of  past  thoughts, 
but  is  supplementary  to  the  day's  exercises,  —  what  has 
been  left  undone  in  waking  moments  is  finished,  and 
well  finished,  in  sleep ;  *  compositions  which  have  over- 
tasked the  waking  mind  have  been  known  to  be  dreamed 
out,  and  accurately  remembered  afterwards;  new  ideas 
are  likewise  originated,  as  was  Coleridge's  "  Kubla 
Khan,"  during  sleep.  Further  illustrations  may  be 
found  in  Dr.  Good's  "  Book  of  Nature,"  and  in  "  The 
Philosophy  of  Sleep,"  already  quoted. 

But  the  dream  is  occasionally  so  vivid  as  to  awaken 
the  power  of  voluntary  motion,  and  the  dreamer  enacts 
or  speaks  his  dream.  Hence  arise  gestures,  muttering, 
talking,  walking,  and  the  performance  of  the  most  com- 
plex operations,  in  sleep.  We  observe  the  elements  of 
these  actions  not  only  in  man,  but  in  domestic  animals. 
The  dog  will  growl,  and  move  uneasily  in  his  sleep,  or 
start  up  suddenly  and  bark,  evidently  in  obedience  to 
his  dreaming  ideas.  From  these  elementary  actions,  up 
to  the  most  perfect  state  of  sleep-vigil,  we  have  every 
gradation,  indicating  the  perfect  identity  of  the  phe- 
nomena as  to  essential  nature.  It  very  frequently  hap- 
pens that  the  dream  having  been  spoken  or  acted  out, 
the  polarity  of  the  mind  with  relation  to  that  subject  is 
exhausted,  and  the  dream  is  forgotten,  so  that  the  sleep 
walker  is  in  general  quite  unconscious,  not  only  of  the 

*  See  "  Cyc.  of  Anat.  and  Physiology,"    Art.  "  Sleep."     By  Dr. 
Carpenter. 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  343 

act  itself,  but  of  the  train  of  thought  which  excited  or 
atteuded  it. 

Having  thus  traced  the  condition  of  the  mind  through 
its  successive  stages  of  complete  wakefulness,  revery, 
abstraction,  sleep,-  and  dreaming,  to  a  pseudo-waking 
and  active  state  again,  we  shall  now  give  a  few  illustra- 
tions of  the  phenomena  of  Sleep-vigil,  beginning  with 
the  simplest  forms,  viz.,  where  the  sleeping  acts  are 
mere  mechanical  repetitions  of  daily  performances ;  and 
advancing  to  those  of  great  intellectual  complication, 
that  we  may  be  better  prepared,  by  a  collection  of  facts, 
inductively  to  ascertain  the  true  and  essential  nature  of 
the  phenomena. 

The  observation  of  sleep-walking  or  somnambulism  is 
of  very  ancient  date  :  two  varieties  were  noticed,  one  of 
which  we  shall  pass  over  very  briefly,  as  being  unimpor- 
tant, except  as  a  collateral  illustration  ;  it  is  that  where 
the  subject  of  it  is  engaged  in  some  occupation  which  he 
continues  although  sleep  overtakes  him.  Thus  Galen 
fell  asleep  whilst  walking,  and  continued  to  do  so  until 
he  struck  his  foot  against  a  stone.  Felix  Plater  relates 
that  he  himself  often  fell  asleep  whilst  playing  the  lute, 
which  he  continued  until  the  instrument  fell  and  awoke 
him.  He  also  states  that  a  friend  fell  asleep  whilst 
reading  aloud,  and  read  an  entire  page  whilst  sleeping. 
It  is  said  to  be  not  unusual  for  soldiers  upon  the  march 
to  fall  asleep  on  a  fatiguing  journey,  still  keeping  up 
with  the  rest ;  this  was  often  noticed  during  the  retreat 
from  Moscow. 

Hippocrates  first  notices  the  true  somnambulism,  the 
imitation  of  action  in  accordance  with  sleeping  idr.-is  : 
"  Quosdam  in.  somno  lugentes  et  vociferantes  vidi,  i/t/oM/itm 
exsiiientes  et  fugientes  ac  diripientes  quoad  excitarentur" 
Aristotle  also  notices  it. 

It  is  those  acts  which  are  most  habitual  by  day  that 


344  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

are  most  frequently  re-enacted  by  night,  and  these  are 
sometimes  of  an  extraordinary  nature.  The  simplest  are 
those  connected  with  visiting  the  various  scenes  of  labor. 
A  young  man  being  asleep  in  the  pump-house  of  the 
mine  in  which  he  worked,  rose  and  walked  to  the  door, 
against  which  he  leaned  some  time ;  then  he  walked  to 
the  engine  shaft,  and  safely  descended  twenty  fathoms, 
where  he  was  found  with  his  back  resting  on  the  ladder. 
When  he  had  been  with  difficulty  awoke,  he  was  quite 
at  a  loss  to  account  for  his  being  there. 

Those  who  ride  much  on  horseback  will  either  do  so 
in  their  sleep,  or  will  imitate  the  action,  as  in  a  case  re- 
lated by  Petrus  Di versus,  where  a  young  man  climbed 
up,  and  mounted  across  the  battlements,  where  he 
spurred  vigorously,  and  was  much  alarmed,  on  awakingv 
at  the  risk  he  had  run. 

Others  will  even  swim  for  a  considerable  time  without 
awaking,  of  which  there  are  many  instances  on  record. 
Dr.  Franklin  relates  that  he  himself  fell  asleep  whilst 
floating  on  his  back,  and  slept  for  an  hour. 

In  a  case  related  by  Macnish,  occurring  on  the  coast 
of  Ireland,  the  sleeper  walked  through  a  difficult  and 
dangerous  road  nearly  two  miles,  and,  plunging  into  the 
water,  had  swam  a  mile  and  a  half,  when  he  was  discov- 
ered, still  fast  asleep. 

Martinet  mentions  a  case  of  a  watchmaker's  assistant 
who  had  an  attack  of  somnambulism  every  fortnight, 
and  in  that  state  was  accustomed  to  arise  and  do  his 
usual  work  with  as  much  accuracy  as  when  awake.  Dr. 
Gall  mentions  a  miller,  who  every  night  arose  and  set 
his  mill  working,  recollecting  nothing  of  what  had  pass. d 
in  the  morning.  Instances  are  innumerable  of  these 
mechanical  employments  beinir  carried  on  in  sleep,  —  it 
is  needless  to  multiply  them,  —  we  pass  on  to  cases  of  a 
more  complex  character.  In  somnambulism  the  eyes  are 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  345 

often  shut,  and  if  open,  they  are  evidently  not  in  a  state 
adapted  to  ordinary  vision,  as  will  be  described  after- 
wards ;  yet  feats  can  be  performed  with  safety  and  ac- 
curacy, which  the  individual  would  never  dare  to  at- 
tempt when  awake.  An  account  in  illustration  we 
extract  from  the  "  Philosophy  of  Sleep  "  :  — 

"  A  story  is  told  of  a  boy,  who  dreamed  that  he  got 
out  of  bed,  and  ascended  to  the  summit  of  an  enormous 
rock,  where  he  found  an  eagle's  nest,  which  he  brought 
away  with  him  and  placed  under  his  bed.  Now  the 
whole  of  these  events  actually  took  place  ;  and  what  he 
conceived  on  waking  to  be  a  mere  vision  was  proved  to 
have  had  an  actual  existence,  by  the  nest  being  found  in 
the  precise  spot  where  he  imagined  he  had  put  it,  and 
by  the  evidence  of  spectators,  who  beheld  his  perilous 
adventure.  The  precipice  which  he  ascended  was  of  a  na- 
ture that  must  have  baffled  the  most  expert  mountaineer, 
and  such  as,  at  other  times,  he  could  never  have  scaled." 

These  adventures  are  not  always  unattended  by  dan- 
ger. Schenkins  relates  an  instance  where  the  somnam- 
bulist, in  attempting  to  get  out  of  a  window,  fell  and 
broke  his  thigh.  A  similar  accident  happened  to  a  Mr. 
Dubrie,  a  musician  in  Bath. 

But  the  phenomena  of  somnambulism  become  much 
more  interesting  and  pregnant  with  meaning  when  the 
manifestations  of  activity  are  more  specifically  'intellect- 
ual, and  where  at  the  same  time  the  state  of  the  special 
senses  can  be  made  the  subject  of  observation.  The 
senses  and  the  intelligence  appear  to  be  closed  to  or- 
dinary influences,  yet  susceptible  to  those  connected 
with  the  dominant  train  of  thought,  sometimes  to  an 
almost  preternatural  extent.  We  will,  however,  for  the 
present,  proceed  with  the  enumeration  of  facts,  as  re- 
lated by  credible  writers,  leaving  our  analysis  of  them  to 
a  later  period. 

15* 


346  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

Henricus  al)  Heers  relates  an  instance  of  a  friend  of 
his  own,  who,  being  unable  to  finish  some  verses  to  his 
satisfaction  by  day,  arose  in  his  sleep,  finished  them, 
sought  out  his  friends,  read  them,  and  retired  to  rest 
again.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  he  was  made  to  be- 
lieve all  that  had  occurred  when  he  awoke. 

Two  very  instructive  cases  are  quoted  by  Dr.  Pritchard 
from  Muratori.  The  first  relates  to  a  young  Italian 
noble,  Signor  Augustin,  who  was  accustomed  to  walk  and 
perform  a  variety  of  acts  in  his  sleep.  The  attacks  were 
usually  announced  by  a  peculiar  manner  of  sleeping  on 
his  back,  with  wide-open,  staring,  unmoved  eyes.  Vigneul 
Marville,  an  eye-witness,  gives  the  following  account  of 
one  occasion  :  "  About  midnight,  Signor  Augustin  drew 
aside  the  bedclothes  with  violence,  arose,  and  put  on  his 
clothes.  I  went  up  to  him,  and  held  the  light  under  his 
eyes ;  he  took  no  notice  of  it,  although  his  eyes  were 
open  and  staring."  After  performing  a  variety  of  move- 
ments about  the  house,  and  seeking  for  many  things, 
appearing  occasionally  to  hear  noises  that  were  made, 
and  to  be  frightened  by  them,  "  he  went  into  the  stable, 
led  out  his  horse,  mounted  it,  and  galloped  to  the  house 
door,  at  which  he  knocked  several  times.  Having  taken 
back  his  horse,  he  heard  a  noise  which  the  servants  made 
in  the  kitchen,  and  went  to  the  door,  holding  his  ear  to 
the  key-hole,  and  appeared  to  listen  attentively."  He 
afterwards  went  to  the  billiard-room,  and  enacted  the  mo- 
tions of  a  player.  He  then  went  to  the  harpsichord  and 
played  a  few  irregular  airs.  "  After  having  moved  about 
for  two  hours,  he  went  to  his  room,  and  threw  himself 
upon  his  bed,  clothed  as  he  was,  and  the  next  morning 
we  found  him  in  the  same  state  ;  for,  as  often  as  his  at- 
tack came  on,  he  slept  afterwards  from  eight  to  ten  hours. 
The  servants  declared  that  they  could  only  put  an  end 
to  his  paroxysms  either  by  tickling  the  soles  of  his  feet, 
or  by  blowing  a  trumpet  in  his  ear." 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  347 

The  case  of  Ncgretti  is  related  by  the  same  author, 
and  is  valuable  as  having  been  separately  watched  by 
two  physicians,  Righellini  and  Pigatti.  He  was  a  ser- 
vant, and  had  walked  in  his  sleep  from  his  eleventh  year. 
He  would  often  repeat  in  his  sleep  the  accustomed  duties 
of  the  day,  and  would  carry  trays  and  glasses  about, 
and  spread  the  table  for  dinner  with  great  accuracy, 
though  his  eyes  were  always  firmly  closed.  Indeed,  it 
was  apparent  that  he  could  not  see,  as  he  frequently 
struck  against  doors,  and  objects  placed  in  unaccustomed 
positions.  He  sometimes  carried  a  candle ;  but  a  bottle 
substituted  for  it  seemed  to  do  as  well.  •  His  sense  of 
taste  appeared  to  be  very  imperfect,  as  he  would  eat  cab- 
bage for  salad,  drink  water  for  wine,  and  take  coffee  for 
snuff,  without  appearing  in  any  case  to  detect  the  sub- 
stitution. 

In  other  cases  the  senses  are  more  awake,  and  the  in- 
telligence more  active.  Castelli,  whose  case  is  related  by 
Francesco  Soave,  was  found  one  night  asleep,  in  the  act 
of  translating  from  Italian  into  French,  and  looking  out 
the  words  from  a  dictionary.  When  his  candle  was  ex- 
tinguished, he  arose  and  went  to  seek  another  light. 
When  any  one  conversed  with  him  on  any  subject  on 
which  his  mind  was  bent  at  the  time,  he  gave  rational 
answers ;  but  he  seemed  to  hear  nothing  that  was  said 
to  him  or  near  him  on  other  subjects.  His  eyes  also 
seemed  to  be  only  sensible  to  those  objects  about  which 
he  was  immediately  engaged,  and  were  quite  fixed  ;  so 
much  so,  that  in  reading  he  turned  the  whole  head  from 
side  to  side  instead  of  the  eyes. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  on  record  is  related 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  in  the  "  Encyclopedic 
Methodique."  It  was  concerning  a  young  priest  at  the 
Catholic  seminary,  who  used  to  rise  in  his  sleep  and  write 
sermons.  Having  written  a  page,  he  would  read  it 


348  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

aloud,  and  make  corrections.  "  I  have  seen,"  says  the 
archbishop,  "  the  beginning  of  one  of  his  sermons  which 
he  had  written  when  asleep  ;  it  was  well  composed, 
but  one  correction  surprised  me.  Having  written 
at  first  the  words  "  ce  divin  enfant,"  he  had  afterwards 
effaced  the  word  divin,  and  written  over  it  adorable. 
Then  perceiving  that  ce  could  not  stand  before  the  last 
word,  he  had  dexterously  inserted  a  t,  so  as  to  make  the 
word  cet"  He  continued  to  write,  although  a  card  was 
held  between  his  eyes  and  the  paper.  Did  the  history 
stop  here,  we  should  have  a  well-authenticated  case  of 
vision  without  the  aid  of  the  eyes.  But  the  collateral 
circumstances  show  that  this  writing  was  accomplished, 
not  by  sight,  but  by  a  most  accurate  mental  representa- 
tion of  the  object  to  be  attained,  as  will  be  further  illus- 
trated in  our  next  case.  For  after  he  had  written  a  page 
requiring  correction,  a  piece  of  blank  paper  of  the  exact 
size  was  substituted  for  his  own  manuscript,  and  on 
that  he  made  the  corrections  in  the  precise  situation 
which  they  wrould  have  occupied  on  the  original  page. 
A  very  astonishing  part  of  this  report  is  that  which  re- 
lates to  his  writing  music  in  this  sleeping  state,  which  it 
is  said  he  did  with  perfect  precision.  He  asked  for  cer- 
tain things,  and  saw  and  heard  such  things,  but  f>nh/ 
such  things,  as  bore  directly  upon  the  subject  of  his 
t  IK  mghts.  He  detected  the  deceit  when  water  was  given 
to  him  instead  of  brandy,  which  he  had  asked  for. 
Finally,  he  knew  nothing  of  all  that  had  transpired  when 
he  awoke  ;  but  in  his  next  paroxysm  he  remembered  all 
accurately,  and  so  lived  a  sort  of  double  life,  a  phenome- 
non which  we  believe  to  be  universal  in  all  the  cases  of 
exalted  somnambulism. 

A  report  made  to  the  Physical  Society  of  Lausanne, 
on  this  subject,  contains  by  far  the  most  elaborate 
and  apparently  trustworthy  account  of  any  we  have 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  349 

met  with,  concerning  somnambulism.  The  observations 
were  made  upon  a  young  gentleman  named  Devaud,  aged 
thirteen  and  a  half,  of  a  strong  constitution ;  but  with 
"  a  nervous  system  of  peculiar  delicacy,  and  of  the  great- 
est sensibility  and  irritability."  We  cannot  give  even 
an  abstract  o(  the  entire  report,  which  may  be  consulted 
at  length  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  under  the 
head  of  "  Sleep  Walkers  "  ;  but  must  content  ourselves 
with  such  parts  as  may  illustrate  the  condition  of  the 
special  senses  and  faculties  in  this  state.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  was  attempting,  at  the  commencement  of  his 
attack,  to  dress  in  the  dark ;  his  clothes  were  mixed 
with  others,  and  he  could  not  find  them  ;  but  on  a  light 
being  brought,  he  dressed  readily.  He  heard  certain 
sounds,  but  was  insensible  to  others.  "  When  he  wishes 
to  see  an  object,  he  makes  an  effort  to  lift  the  eyelids  ; 
but  they  are  so  little  under  his  command,  that  he  can 
hardly  raise  them  a  line  or  two  ;  the  iris  at  that  time 
appears  fixed,  and  his  eye  dim.  When  anything  is  given 
to  him,  and  he  is  told  of  it,  he  always  half  opens  his  eyes 
with  a  degree  of  difficulty,  and  then  shuts  them  after  he 
has  taken  what  was  offered  to  him.  The  phenomena  of 
his  writing  and  correcting,  even  with  a  card  interposed 
between  his  eyes  and  the  paper,  are  related  in  almost 
precisely  similar  terms  to  those  in  the  last-mentioned 
instance."  The  Academicians  who  drew  up  this  re- 
port came  to  the  following  conclusions  as  regards  the 
state  of  his  senses :  1st,  That  he  is  obliged'  to  open 
his  eyes  (which  are  usually  closed),  in  order  to  recognize 
objects  which  he  wishes  to  see ;  but  the  impression  once 
made,  although  rapidly,  is  vivid  enough  to  supersede  the 
necessity  of  his  opening  them  again  to  view  the  same 
objects  anew  ;  that  is,  the  same  objects  are  afterwards 
presented  to  his  imagination  with  as  much  force  and 
precision  as  if  he  actually  saw  them.  2d,  That  his  im- 


350  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

agination  thus  warmed,  represents  to  him  objects,  and 
such  as  he  figures  to  himself,  with  as  much  vivacity  as 
if  he  really  saw  them  ;  and  lastly,  that  all  his  senses, 
being  subordinate  to  his  imagination,  seemed  concentra- 
ted in  the  object  with  which  he  is  occupied,  and  have  at 
that  time  no  perception  of  anything  but  what  relates  to 
that  object.  "  These  two  causes  united  seem  to  them 
sufficient  for  explaining  one  of  the  most  singular  facts 
that  occurred  to  their  observation,  to  wit,  how  the  young 
Devaud  can  write,  although  he  has  his  eyes  shut,  and 
an  obstacle  before  them.  His  paper  is  imprinted  on  his 
imagination,  and  every  letter  which  he  means  to  write  is 
also  painted  there,  in  the  place  in  which  it  ought  to 
stand  on  the  paper,  and  without  being  confounded  with 
the  other  letters ;  now  it  is  clear  that  his  hand,  which  is 
obedient  to  the  will  of  his  imagination,  will  trace  them 
on  the  real  paper,  in  the  same  order  in  which  they  are 
represented  on  that  which  is  pictured  in  his  head.  This 
will  only  appear  a  satisfactory  account  of  the  matter, 
when  we  remember  how  much  more  accurately  all  muS' 
cular  motions  are  performed  in  a  state  of  somnambulism 
than  at  other  times ;  the  mind  is  intent  but  upon  one 
thing,  and  does  that  perfectly,  undisturbed  either  by 
any  influences  from  without,  or  by  any  confusion  or 
complexity  of  ideas  or  endeavors  within  itself. 

We  have  now  to  notice  a  class  of  cases  which,  present- 
ing fewer  anomalies  in  the  activity  of  the  organs  of 
sense,  are  yet  more  remarkable  than  the  preceding  ones, 
considered  as  phenomena  of  sleep,  inasmuch  as  there  is 
very  considerable  freedom  of  intercourse  with  those 
around ;  and  the  condition  might  naturally  be  consid- 
ered as  one  of  perfect  wakeful  ness,  but  that  everything 
which  then  happens  is  forgotten,  and  only  remembered 
during  the  next  paroxysm. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  this  form  of 


ON  SOMNAMBULISM.  351 

somnambulism  is  that  recorded  by  Dr.  Dyce,  of  Aber- 
deen, and  quoted  by  both  Dr.  Pritchard  and  Macnish. 
"  The  subject  of  the  relation  was  a  girl  of  sixteen ;  the 
first  symptom  was  a  propensity  to  fall  asleep  in  the 
evening ;  this  was  followed  by  the  habit  of  talking  on 
these  occasions,  but  not  incoherently,  as  sleep-talkers  are 
wont  to  do.  She  repeated  the  occurrences  of  the  day 
and  sang  musical  airs,  both  sacred  and  profane.  After- 
wards she  became  able  to  answer  questions  put  to  her 
in  this  state,  without  being  awakened.  She  dressed  the 
children  of  the  family,  still  'dead  asleep,'  as  her  mistress 
termed  her  state,  and  once  set  in  order  a  breakfast-table 
with  her  eyes  shut."  She  was  taken  to  church,  and  ap- 
peared much  affected  by  the  sermon ;  but  on  being  ques- 
tioned, after  the  fit  was  over,  she  denied  ever  having 
been  to  church,  but  in  a  subsequent  attack,  repeated  the 
text  and  substance  of  the  sermon.  Having,  by  the  con- 
nivance of  a  depraved  fellow-servant,  been  ill-treated 
during  one  paroxysm,  she  forgot  all  about  it  when 
awake ;  but  during  the  next  attack  told  it  to  her 
mother. 

A  singular  and  interesting  account  of  a  case  of  spon- 
taneous somnambulism  is  graphically  related  by  Dr. 
Carpenter  (under  whose  care  the  patient  was),  in  the 
"  Cyc.  of  Anat.  and  Phys."  Art.  "  Sleep."  The  peculiar- 
ity of  the  case  was,  the  young  lady  passed  into  the 
sleep-walking  and  talking  condition,  not,  as  is  usual,  from*7 
the  sleeping,  but  from  the  waking  state.  She  could  con- 1 
verse  rationally,  with  one  fundamental  error  or  delusion ;: 
but  she  only  saw,  heard,  or  understood  those  objects  or ' 
ideas  which  were  related  to  her  train  of  thought ;  on 
awaking,  all  was  forgotten,  but  the  same  ideas  revived 
and  were  continued  regularly  in  the  next  attack.  For; 
the  very  remarkable  details,  we  refer  to  the  article  men-* 
tioned. 


352  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

These  cases,  singular  and  interesting  in  themselves, 
are  perhaps  still  more  so  as  forming  a  natural  transition 
and  bond  of  relation  between  true  somnambulism  and 
what  has  been  called  double  consciousness,  a  peculiar 
diplo-psychical  condition,  upon  the  nature  of  which  little 
light  has  hitherto  been  thrown  by  either  metaphysician 
or  physiologist. 

In  illustration  of  this  peculiar  affection,  we  shall  men- 
tion three  cases  :  the  first  two  related  by  Professor  Silli- 
man,  in  the  "  American  Journal  of  Science  "  ;  the  third, 
from  the  "  Medical  Repository,"  by  Dr.  Mitchell. 

The  subject  of  the  first  case  was  a  lady  of  New  Eng- 
land, who  became  subject  to  what  is  called  in  the  report 
delirium,  —  coming  on  suddenly,  and  going  off  again  in 
the  same  manner,  and  leaving  the  mind  quite  sound. 
When  in  conversation,  she  would  break  off  in  the  midst, 
and  begin  talking  on  some  subject  quite  unconnected 
with  the  previous  one,  to  which  she  would  not  again 
refer  during  the  continuance  of  the  delirium.  "  When 
she  became  natural  again,  she  would  pursue  the  same 
conversation  in  which  she  had  been  engaged  during  the 
lucid  interval,  beginning  where  she  had  left  off,  —  some- 
times completing  an  unfinished  story  or  sentence,  or 
even  an  unfinished  word.  When  the  next  delirious 
paroxysm  came  on,  she  would  continue  the  same  conver- 
sation which  she  had  been  pursuing  in  the  preceding 
paroxysm ;  so  that  she  appeared  as  a  person  might  be 
supposed  to  do  who  had  two  souls,  each  occasionally 
dormant  and  occasionally  active,  and  utterly  ignorant 
of  what  the  other  was  doing." 

In  quoting  this  case,  Dr.  Pritchard  very  properly 
remarks  :  "  It  is  evident  that  although  this  affection  is 
termed  delirium,  it  was  neither  that  state  in  the  ordi- 
nary acceptation  of  terms,  nor  any  form  of  madness, 
but  one  of  coherent  revery." 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  353 

The  second  case  is  thus  quoted  by  Dr.  Pritchard,  from 
the  same  source  :  "  An  intelligent  lady,  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  undertook  a  piece  of  fine  needlework,  to 
which  she  devoted  her  time  almost  constantly  for  many 
days.  Before  its  completion  she  became  suddenly 
delirious  (1),  and  she  continued  in  that  state  about  seven 
years.  She  said  not  a  word  during  this  time  about  her 
needlework,  but,  on  recovering  suddenly  from  the  affec- 
tion, immediately  inquired  respecting  it." 

Our  next  case  is  so  singular  and  anomalous  in  its  de- 
tails, that  we  might  hesitate  to  classify  it  as  one  of  som- 
nambulism ;  but  we  have  as  yet  found  no  break  in  our 
series  of  phenomena,  however  strange,  arising  out  of 
sleep,  and  the  present  instance  seems  so  closely  allied 
to  those  already  related  that  we  give  it  to  complete  the 
series.  The  subject  was  a  young  lady,  of  a  good  consti- 
tution, excellent  capacity,  and  well  educated.  "  Her 
memory  was  capacious,  and  well  stored  with  a  copious 
stock  of  ideas.  Unexpectedly,  and  without  any  fore- 
warning, she  fell  into  a  profound  sleep,  which  continued 
several  hours  beyond  the  ordinary  term.  On  waking, 
she  was  discovered  to  have  lost  every  vestige  of  ac- 
quired knowledge.  Her  memory  was  tabula  rasa,  — 
words  and  things  were  obliterated  and  gone.  It  was 
found  necessary  for  her  to  learn  everything  again.  She 
even  acquired,  by  new  efforts,  the  art  of  spelling,  read- 
ing, writing  and  calculating,  and  gradually  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  persons  and  objects  around,  like  a  be- 
ing for  the  first  time  brought  into  the  world.  In  these 
exercises  she  made  considerable  proficiency.  But  after 
a  few  months  another  fit  of  somnolency  invaded  her. 
On  rousing  from  it,  she  found  herself  restored  to  the 
state  she  was  in  before  the  first  paroxysm,  but  was 
wholly  ignorant  of  every  event  and  occurrence  that  had 
befallen  her  afterwards.  The  former  condition  of  ex- 


354  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

istencc  she  now  calls  the  Old  state,  and  the  latter  tho 
New  state ;  and  she  is  as  unconscious  of  her  double 
character  as  two  distinct  persons  are  of  their  respec- 
tive natures.  For  example  :  in  her  old  state,  she  pos- 
sesses all  the  original  knowledge ;  in  her  new  state,  only 
what  she  acquired  since.  If  a  lady  or  gentleman  be  in- 
troduced to  her  in  the  old  state  and  vice  versa  (and  so  of 
all  other  matters),  to  know  them  satisfactorily  she  must 
learn  them  in  both  states.  In  the  old  state,  she  pos- 
sesses fine  powers  of  penmanship  ;  while  in  the  new  she 
writes  a  poor  awkward  hand,  not  having  had  time  or 
means  to  become  expert. 

"  During  four  years  and  upwards  she  has  had  period- 
ical transitions  from  one  of  these  states  to  the  other. 
The  alterations  are  always  consequent  upon  a  long  and 
sound  sleep.  Both  the  lady  and  her  family  are  now 
capable  of  conducting  the  affair  without  embarrassment. 
By  simply  knowing  whether  she  is  in  the  old  or  new 
state,  they  regulate  the  intercourse,  and  govern  them* 
selves  accordingly."  * 

All  the  phenomena  occurring  in  such  cases  as  thosft 
already  related  appear  to  be  compatible  with,  at  least 
apparently,  perfect  health.  But  sleep-walking  and  sleep- 
talking  occasionally  form  a  part  of,  or  are  engrafted 
upon,  hysterical  and  cataleptic  affections,  —  and  then 
we  see  the  proteiform  symptoms  of  hysteria  and  the 
muscular  and  sensitive  derangements  of  catalepsy  added 
to  the  sufficiently  singular  conditions  before  enumerated. 
In  catalepsy  so  complicated  (and  hysteria  strongly 
simulates  it  frequently),  it  is  usual  to  see  the  patient 
commence  and  end  the  paroxysm  with  the  insensible 
symptoms  proper  to  the  disease  ;  whilst  the  middle  part 
(called  the  "  live  fit,"  in  contradistinction  to  the  begin- 
ning and  end,  which  are  called  the  "  dead  fit,"  in  com 

*  "  Philosophy  of  Sleep,"  note,  p.  187. 


ON  SOMNAMBULISM.  355 

mon  phrase)  is  characterized  by  talking  and  various 
actions,  evincing  a  peculiar  kind  of  consciousness  and 
sensibility  to  certain  real  or  imaginary  beings  or  objects ; 
whilst  there  is  the  most  profound  insensibility  to 'all  in- 
fluences from  without.  Thus  a  conversation  may  be 
carried  on  with  some  imaginary  interlocutor,  with  proper 
pauses  for  reply  and  rejoinder ;  and  with  one  funda- 
mental error,  that  conversation  may  be  coherent ;  yet  the 
sufferer  may  be  pricked  or  cut  without  evincing  any  con- 
sciousness ;  or  the  most  pungent  stimuli  may  be  applied 
to  the  mouth,  nose,  or  conjunctiva,  with  the  same  ab- 
sence of  result.  The  pages  of  medical  history  abound 
with  records  of  such  cases,  but  we  forbear  to  quote,  as 
we  are  at  present  more  concerned  with  somnambulism 
in  its  physiological  and  psychical,  rather  than  its  patho- 
logical relations. 

It  will  be  useful  to  review  briefly  the  various  forms 
of  Sleep-vigil  found  in  the  foregoing  cases,  so  as  to  pre- 
sent an  analysis  of  the  phenomena.  We  have  met  with  — 

1.  Profound  sleep.  —  Unconsciousness. 

2.  Dreaming.  —  Consciousness,  memory,  fancy,  imagi- 

nation, —  more  rarely  judgment  and  comparison. 

3.  Acted  dreams.  —  All  the  former  faculties  enjoying 

a  sort  of  wakefulness,  and,  at  the  same  time,  vo- 
lition. This  class  is  only  intended  to  include 
gestures,  &c. 

4.  True  somnambulism.  —  Rising   from  bed,   visiting 

accustomed  or  unaccustomed  scenes,  and  per- 
forming various  mechanical  acts.  Under  this 
head  we  have  seen  the  individual  performing  the 
most  dangerous  feats,  and  the  command  of  the 
muscular  system  brought  to  the  greatest  perfec- 
tion. 

5.  True  sleep-vigil.  —  Here,  in  addition  to  the  forego- 


356  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ing  phenomena,  many  acts  of  the  mind  are  per- 
formed, as  judgment,  synthesis,  analysis,  &c.  ; 
and  the  senses,  though  closed  to  ordinary  influ- 
ences, seem  to  be  brought  into  some  kind  of  ac- 
tivity. Here  begins  also  double  consciousness, 
as  yet  extending  only  to  the  sleeping  state,  — 
that  is,  the  patient  knows  nothing  of  the  sleep- 
ing acts  when  awake,  though  he  acts,  when  asleep, 
as  if  upon  a  consciousness  of  what  has  passed 
when  awake,  repeating  or  completing  the  acts  of 
that  condition.  But  the  various  paroxysms  of 
sleep-vigil  are  attended  by  a  continuity  of  con- 
sciousness, —  that  is,  the  acts  of  one  are  remem- 
bered in  the  next. 

6.  Complete  double  consciousness  or  double  life.  —  A  new 
life,  commencing  and  ending  with  deep  sleep ; 
utter  oblivion  of  everything  before  passed ;  this 
condition  alternating  with  the  old  life  at  uncer- 
tain intervals,  and  the  paroxysms  of  indefinite 
length.  This  can  scarcely  be  termed  somnambu- 
lism, but  is  noticed  as  being  so  closely  allied  by 
many  of  its  phenomena  to  that  condition. 

It  will  be  evident  from  a  careful  consideration  of  these 
successive  conditions,  that  somnambulism  is  not,  as  M. 
Willermay  and  many  others  consider  it,  an  intermediate 
state  between  sleeping  and  waking  (un  etat  intermediaire 
entre  la  veille  et  le  sommeil)*  That  in  the  slighter 
forms  of  the  affection  many  of  the  faculties  enjoy  a 
sort  of  activity  is  clear ;  that  in  the  higher  forms  of 
somno-vigil  all,  or  nearly  all,  are  in  such  a  state  that  it 
is  difficult  to  distinguish  between  these  and  their  waking 
manifestions,  is  also  evident ;  but  inasmuch  as  the  sleep 
appears  to  be  more  sound  than  ordinary  ;  as  the  somnam- 

*  "  Diet,  des  Sciences  Me:lic;ile«,"  Art.  "  Somnambulism." 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  357 

bulist  never  passes  naturally  from  that  condition  to  one 
of  waking ;  as  there  is  some  danger  attendant  upon  the 
interruption  of  that  state  ;  and  as  the  mental  and  bodily 
activity  for  the  most  part,  is  directed  only  to  one  class  of 
subjects,  — it  is  plain  from  all  this,  that  this  can  be  no 
transition  stage  to  the  natural  waking  activity  of  the 
functions  :  in  its  higher  forms  also,  we  are  compelled  to 
consider  it  as  something  more  than  the  enacting  of  a 
dream,  however  vivid. 

What  is  the  condition  of  the  various  functions  in  the 
somno-vigil  1 

Noticing  first  the  most  obvious,  we  see  the  muscular 
system  perfectly  under  the  command  of  the  will,  —  often 
more  powerful  and  accurate  in  its  movements  than  at 
other  times.  The  condition  of  the  senses  is  subject  to 
great  variety. 

1.  The  Sight.  The  eyes  are  sometimes  closed,  some- 
times widely  staring  and  fixed,  sometimes  agitated  by  a 
convulsive  movement,  the  pupils  widely  dilated  or  ex- 
tremely contracted,  but  in  all  conditions  evidently  unfit 
for  ordinary  vision,  and  almost  always  insensible  to 
any  light  experimentally  thrown  upon  them.  Yet  there 
are  often  unmistakable  evidences  of  the  recognition  of 
objects,  —  they  are  often  sought  for,  and  found  ;  some- 
times with  a  light,  sometimes  without ;  generally  the 
somnambulist  finds  his  way  perfectly  in  the  dark,  though 
some  will  be  at  great  pains  to  get  a  light ;  he  will  con- 
tinue to  write  with  the  same  accuracy  as  before  when  an 
opaque  object  is  held  between  his  eyes  and  the  paper. 
Dr.  Carpenter  states  that  he  has  seen  this  in  the  artificial 
somnambulism  produced  by  Mr.  Braid's  hypnotic  process. 
What  is  the  nature  of  this  vision  ?  Can  the  general 
sensibility  of  the  surface  be  in  such  manner  modified  as 
to  serve  the  purposes  of  sight  1  It  is  very  improbable, 
yet  such  is  said  to  be  the  case  by  many  of  those  who 


358  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

practise  the  various  forms  of  artificial  hypnotism.  The 
solitary  instance  with  which  we  have  met,  of  any  som- 
nambulist remembering  and  relating  the  phenomena  of 
vision,  is  to  be  found  in  the  "  Diet,  des  Sciences  Me*di- 
cales,"  sub  voce.  The  writer,  M.  Willermay,  speaks  thus  : 
"  J'ai  moimeme,  etant  tres  jeune,  eprouve  quelques 
acces  legers  de  somnambulisme,  et  il  me  semble  quo  je 
voyais  en  dedans  de  ma  tete  ce  que  je  voulais  eci'ire,  sans 
le  secours  des  yeux." 

2.  The  sense  of  Hearing  is  also  found  in  very  different 
conditions.  Signor  Ferari  heard  the  slightest  noise  near 
him,  but  apparently  misinterpreted  it ;  others  arc  insen- 
sible to  the  loudest  noises,  but  will  hold  conversations  on 
subjects  immediately  connected  with  their  specific  train 
of  thought. 

3  and  4.  The  Smell  and  the  Taste  present  similar  con- 
trarieties, sometimes  being  more  sensitive  than  natural, 
sometimes  less  so,  and  sometimes  perverted. 

5.  The  Touch  is  the  most  active  of  all  the  senses,  be- 
ing as  much  increased  in  sensibility  and  accuracy  as  is 
the  energy  of  the  muscular  system ;  probably  much  of 
the  information  usually  obtained  by  the  special  senses  is 
acquired  through  the  increased  energy  of  this,  or  some 
modification  of  it. 

But  what  is  the  proximate  cause  of  all  these  phenom- 
ena, of  all  this  mimicry  of  waking  life  1  What  is  the 
condition  of  the  brain  and  mind  during  this  state  1  We 
have  but  little  knowledge  of  the  physical  differences 
between  the  brain  active  and  the  brain  at  rest ;  but  we 
know  that  a  difference  does  potentially  exist,  and  that 
whilst  the  brain  at  rest  is  in  a  state  of  indifference  to 
stimuli,  the  brain  active  is  in  a  condition  winch  may  not 
unaptly  be  called  polarity.  By  polarity  in  general  is 
understood  a  state  of  preparedness  to  respond  to  special 
and  specific  stimuli,  and  one  of  indifference  to  all  objects 


ON  SOMNAMBULISM.  359 

not  coming  under  this  category  ;  thus  the  magnet  is  polar 
and  responds  to  steel,  at  the  same  time  being  indifferent 
to  other  substances  ;  the  charged  conductor  of  an  electric 
machine  is  polar,  and  responds  to  the  class  of  bodies 
called  electric  conductors,  being  indifferent  to  all  others  ; 
in  all  these  cases,  when  the  elements  of  this  polarity  are 
brought  into  relation,  the  specific  phenomena  are  evolved, 
and  the  polarity  resolved  for  the  moment.  Very  analo- 
gous are  the  phenomena  of  the  nervous  system,  each 
department  of  which,  when  active,  is  in  a  state  of  polarity, 
evincing  certain  definite  and  specific  acts  or  feelings  when 
exposed  to  certain  influences.  The  optic  nerve  is  polar 
with  regard  to  light,  but  takes  no  cognizance  of  any  other 
agent,  and  so  in  great  measure  with  the  ear,  the  taste, 
and  the  smell.  The  sense  of  touch  is  polar  with  regard 
to  objects  with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  but  takes  no 
impression  (or  only  those  of  the  most  obscure  character) 
from  those  influences  which  are  so  powerful  upon  the 
other  senses.  This,  then,  is  a  true  polarity  of  the  ner- 
vous system ;  and  when  we  consider  how  analogous  the 
nervous  influence  is  to  the  electric,  in  its  mode  of  propa- 
gation and  in  many  of  its  manifestations  (muscular  con- 
traction, to  wit),  we  cannot  be  surprised  to  meet  with 
further  analogies  in  some  of  the  irregularities  of  polar 
tension.  For  instance,  an  electric  jar  may  be  discharged 
perfectly  by  the  appropriate  apparatus,  and  brought  into 
a  state  of  equilibrium  or  indifference  ;  yet  very  shortly, 
without  any  recharge,  it  will  be  found  to  be  in  a  partly 
charged  state,  and  it  requires  repeated  processes  ere  it  is 
brought  finally  into  a  state  of  rest.  The  brain,  when 
active,  is  in  a  state  of  tension  or  polarity  ;  when  at  rest, 
as  in  sound  sleep,  it  is  in  a  state  of  entire  indifference ; 
but  in  this  case  we  have  the  organic  processes  perpetu- 
ally continued  ;  and  what  wonder  that  the  tension  of  the 
brain  should  thereby  be  often  renewed,  so  as  to  awake  it 


360  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS, 

to  some  amount  of  activity  ;  hence  all  the  phenomena 
of  dreaming. 

But  why  is  the  dream  acted  1 

In  the  perfectly  waking  state  any  emotion  of  the 
mind  produces  generally  some  corresponding  action  of 
the  body,  though  perhaps  slight ;  in  individuals  of  irrita- 
ble fibre  this  is  invariable,  except  it  be  modified  by  edu- 
cation. But  in  a  powerfully  abstracted  state  of  the  mind, 
when  all  external  influences,  except  those  upon  which  the 
mind  is  employed,  are  cut  off,  the  body  acte  the  thought 
of  the  mind  with  a  certainty  and  precision  which  fre- 
quently enables  the  bystander  to  read  the  train  of  ideas 
accurately.  In  dreaming,  where  the  mind  is  absorbed 
utterly  in  one  train  of  thought,  it  is  but  what  we  might 
expect,  to  find  the  limbs  dramatizing  the  pictures  pre- 
sented to  the  mind ;  hence  the  state  described  in  our 
fourth  division,  true  somnambulism. 

But  again,  why  in  the  higher  forms  of  somno- vigil  are 
the  senses  in  such  a  peculiar  condition  1  —  why  so  acute 
with  regard  to  some  objects,  so  dead  to  others  1 

We  have  seen  how,  in  the  abstraction,  the  mind  grad- 
ually excludes  all  impressions,  save  those  connected  with 
one  special  train  of  thought ;  the  student  is  absorbed 
in  his  problem,  and  hears  nothing  of  the  thunder,  sees 
none  of  the  lightning  which  plays  round  him, — the  most 
familiar  voice  or  the  most  unearthly  sounds  fall  alike 
dead  upon  his  ear.  No  doubt  these  sights  and  sounds 
produce  their  proper  physical  impression  upon  the  or- 
gans of  sense,  but  the  brain  is  no  longer  in  a  condition  to 
receive  them  ;  it  is  not  in  a  state  of  polarity  to  ordinary 
influences ;  all  its  tension  has  been  withdrawn  from 
without,  j«id  fixed  upon  one  class  of  ideas;  impressions 
therefore  fall  as  ineffectively  upon  it  as  light  might  upon 
the  ear,  or  sound  upon  the  eye.  But  in  sleep  and 
dreaming  there  is  no  necessity  to  withdraw  the  atten- 


ON   SOMNAMBULISM.  361 

tion  from  one  class  of  ideas  to  fix  it  on  another ;  the 
tension  or  polarity  of  the  brain  is  instituted  only 
with  reference  to  that  particular  class  which  forms  the 
subject  of  the  dream  ;  the  senses  may  be  physically  im- 
pressed by,  but  the  mind  does  not  recognize,  any  other 
object,  and  hence  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  all  the 
apparently  anomalous  instances  of  contradictory  percep- 
tion and  unconsciousness ;  the  individual  is  abstracted, 
but  still  more  completely,  for  obvious  reasons,  than  in 
his  waking  moments. 

That  the  mind  should,  in  certain  aspects,  be  even  more 
acute  and  vigorous  than  when  awake,  —  that  tasks 
should  be  completed  of  the  most  abstruse  character, 
which  had  baffled  the  waking  energies,  —  all  this,  re- 
ceived in  the  light  above  suggested,  will  not  appear 
miraculous  ;  all  distracting  thoughts,  all  extraneous 
sources  of  error,  are  withdrawn ;  and  the  mind,  fully 
awake  to  this  subject,  is  enabled  to  devote  its  concen- 
trated energies  to  the  task. 

One  mysterious  question  remains  to  be  asked,  What 
is  the  nature  of  the  vision  which  the  somnambulist  ap- 
pears to  possess  1  seeing  that  frequently  the  eyes  are 
quite  closed  ;  and  even  when  not  so  they  are  uuadapted 
to  the  ordinary  mode  of  receiving  visual  impressions. 
Is  there  a  transference  of  special  sensation]  is  some 
part  of  the  surface  endowed  with  something  analogous  to 
visual  faculties  1  The  records  of  the  various  forms  of 
hypnotism,  vouched  for  by  men  of  no  mean  standing  or 
credibility,  would  appear  to  favor  such  a  hypothesis;  but, 
hi  the  present  state  of  our  investigation,  we  feel  unpre- 
pared to  pass  a  judgment  on  so  vexed  a  question.  On 
the  phenomena  of  double  consciousness  we  offer  no  com- 
ments, feeling  assured  that,  as  yet,  our  opportunities  of 
observation  have  been  too  few  and  limited  to  permit  of 
any  satisfactory  or  efficient  generalization. 
16 


VII. 
REVERY  AND  ABSTRACTION. 

PROBLEM  :  To  what  extent  is  ATTENTION  entitled  to  be  con- 
sidered the  one  great  working  faculty  of  the  Mind  ? 

THE  brain  *  is  the  prime  minister  of  the  body  ;  he  is 
chief  of  the  police,  president  of  the  legislative,  and  head 
of  the  executive  departments.  In  an  ordinary  govern- 
ment, this  would  be  a  more  than  sufficient  monopoly  ; 
but  in  our  microcosm,  other  and  even  more  important 
functions  devolve  upon  the  premier.  He  is  the  head 
of  the  commissariat,  manages  the  home  department,  and 
has  direct  and  uncontrolled  sway  over  all  our  foreign  re- 
lations. Yet,  with  all  this,  he  has  time  for  idleness ; 
and,  besides  the  stated  number  of  hours  which  he  de- 
votes to  repose,  he  occasionally,  in  working  hours,  refuses 
to  respond  to  the  claims  upon  him  ;  and  some  of  the 
departments,  chiefly  that  of  "  foreign  affairs,"  are  neg- 
lected. 

*  If,  in  the  following  sketch,  the  terms  Brain  and  Mind  appear  to  be 
used  convertibly,  it  must  be  understood  that  no  material  identity  is 
implied;  they  are  so  used  for  convenience  merely,  inasmuch  as  wo 
become  acquainted  with  the  phenomena  of  our  immaterial  mind  only 
as  it  can  be  corporeally  manifested  through  the  material  organ.  So, 
also,  if  we  speak  of  will,  thought,  judgment,  memory,  &c.  as  acting 
sometimes  together,  and  sometimes  apparently  in  opposition,  it  is  by 
no  means  intended  to  signify  that  these  are  separate  elements  of  what 
must  be  considered  necessarily  us  one  and  indivisible;  but  only  that 
they  are  different  modes  of  action  of  the  same  essence.  In  short,  no 
metaphysical  theories  are  involved :  the  terms  used  are  intended  not 
to  be  strictly  analyzed,  but  to  convey  a  clear  history  of  certain  note- 
worthy phenomena. 


REVERT   AND   ABSTRACTION.  363 

In  every  ordinary  act  there  are  many  elements  in- 
volved ;  an  impression  is  received  from  without,  and 
conveyed  to  the  mind  ;  it  is  there  perceived,  attended 
to,  and  compared  with  other  impressions  which  the 
memoiy  brings  forward ;  a  judgment  is  passed  upon  it, 
and  a  course  of  action  determined  upon,  which,  through 
the  medium  of  the  will,  is  carried  into  effect ;  it  includes, 
therefore,  perception,  attention,  and  will,  as  chief  ele- 
ments. Or,  according  to  laws  which  we  need  not  now 
inquire  into,  an  idea  is  originated  within  the  mind 
itself;  the  energy  of  the  subjective  impression,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  force  of  will  on  the  other,  determine 
the  amount  of  attention  to  be  accorded  to  it ;  and  it 
is  either  detained  for  consideration,  or  for  action  (if  it 
be  of  a  nature  to  require  action),  or  allowed  to  pass 
away,  most  probably  leaving  an  associated  thought  be- 
hind it,  to  be  similarly  treated. 

Thus  attention  and  will  are  most  important  elements 
in  all  serviceable  thought ;  and  according  as  these  are 
more  or  less  prominent,  practical  results  will  follow  the 
operations  of  the  mind.  Sir  William  Hamilton  remarks 
that  "  the  difference  between  an  ordinary  mind  and  the 
mind  of  a  Newton  consists  principally  in  this,  that  the 
one  is  capable  of  a  more  continuous  attention  than  the 
other,  —  that  a  Newton  is  able  without  fatigue  to  con- 
nect inference  with  inference  in  one  long  series  towards 
a  determinate  end  ;  while  the  man  of  inferior  capacity 
is  soon  obliged  to  let  fall  the  thread  which  he  had  begun 
to  spin."  Bacon  also  places  all  men  of  equal  attention 
on  one  level,  recognizing  nothing  as  due  to  genius.  Hel- 
vetius  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  genius  is  indeed  nothing 
but  a  continued  attention  (une  attention  suivie).  Buffon 
also  speaks  of  it  as  a  protracted  patience.  "  In  the  ex- 
act sciences,  at  least,"  says  Cuvier,  "  it  is  the  patience 
of  a  sound  intellect,  when  invincible,  which  truly  consti- 


364  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

tutes  genius."  Lord  Chesterfield  acknowledges  that  the 
power  of  applying  an  attention,  steady  and  undissipa- 
ted,  to  a  single  object,  is  the  sure  mark  of  a  superior 
genius. 

Whether  we  give  full  credence  to  all  this  weight  of 
testimony  or  not,  we  are  bound  to  recognize  in  attention 
an  element  of  paramount  importance,  as  influencing 
what  is  generally  called  the  "  train  of  thought  "  ;  and  as 
one  which,  in  appearance  at  least,  and  in  popular  estima- 
tion, often  makes  the  difference  between  a  wise  man  and 
a  fool ;  and  we  think  it  useful  to  investigate  briefly  some 
few  of  the  phenomena  of  thought,  considered  in  this 
point  of  view  chiefly,  as  more  or  less  affected  by  atten- 
tion. These  are  worthy  of  much  more  scientific  analysis 
than  they  have  hitherto  received ;  and  much  empirical 
observation  is  still  needed.  When  in  dreams,  where  vo- 
litional attention  is  in  entire  abeyance,  we  find  that  we 
live  months  or  years  in  a  few  hours,  we  are  too  apt  to 
be  content  with  saying  that  these  are  "  the  stuff  that 
dreams  are  made  of "  ;  perhaps  never  considering  that, 
whether  sleeping  or  waking,  this  is  a  veritable  phenom- 
enon, and  potentiality  of  mind,  —  perhaps  more  won- 
derful than  our  most  brilliant  waking  thoughts.  And 
when  we  meet  with  a  student  so  deeply  immersed  in  his 
problem,  or  his  thought,  as  to  know  nothing  of  the  phys- 
ical influences  around,  —  to  be  entirely  insensible  to  pain 
or  danger,  —  we  have  a  strong  tendency  to  explain  the 
whole  by  the  theory  that  he  is  an  "  absent  man  "  ;  per- 
haps careless  of  why  he  is  absent,  and  how  mind  can  so 
influence  matter ;  not  clearly  recognizing  that  therein  is 
involved  one  of  the  most  important  questions  of  our^ 
nature. 

In  natural  sleep,  as  before  observed,  volitional  atten- 
tion is  dormant,  whilst  memory  and  imagination  are 
thereby  allowed  to  run  riot,  and  to  wander  in  rapid  sue- 


REVERY   AND   ABSTRACTION.  365 

cession  over  the  nearest  and  most  distant  scenes,  and  to 
represent  intercourse  with  the  distant  living  or  dead, 
without  arousing  any  sensations  of  surprise  or  incon- 
gruity. Under  peculiar  circumstances,  however,  the  at- 
tention may  be  aroused  to  certain  objects,  or  classes 
of  objects,  around  which  then  all  the  thoughts  cluster,  and 
towards  which  all  the  actions  tend  ;  whilst  it  remains  not 
only  indifferent  to  all  other  surrounding  objects,  but  is 
incapable  of  being  attracted  to  them  by  any  means  short 
of  such  as  will  interrupt  the  special  mental  condition. 
Many  of  the  phenomena  attendant  upon  this  and  allied 
conditions  were  investigated  in  the  preceding  paper  \  * 
and  it  was  concluded  that  they  were  due  to  an  organic 
polarity,  by  virtue  of  which  the  brain  became  sensitive 
to  certain  impressions  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  re- 
maining insensible  to  all  others,  physical  or  otherwise  ; 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  charged  conductor  of  an 
electrical  machine  responds  only  to  conductors,  appearing 
indifferent  to  all  non-conductors  or  electrics  ;  or  as  a 
magnetized  steel  bar  is  sensitive  only  to  steel,  and  indif- 
ferent to  other  matters.  Perhaps  a  more  apt  illustration 
may  be  drawn  from  the  horse-shoe  bar  of  soft  steel, 
which  becomes  a  powerful  magnet  (i.  e.  polar)  on  passing 
an  electric  current  through  coils  of  copper  wire  around 
it ;  but  as  soon  as  the  current  ceases,  the  polarity  is  re- 
solved, and  the  bar  presents  only  the  properties  of  com- 
mon steeL  It  was  remarked,  also,  that  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  polarity,  this  species  of  attention,  the 
sleep  of  the  other  faculties  became  much  more  profound, 
and  more  difficult  to  interrupt  by  any  influence  ;  the 
nervous  influence  being  so  concentrated  upon  the  awak- 
ened parts  of  the  organism,  that  the  sensitivity  of  the 
remainder  was  destroyed,  or  much  lessened. 

The  one  remarkable  circumstance  about  all  the  various 

*  Vide  u  Somnambulism." 


366  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

and  complicated  actions  observed  in  the  higher  forms  of 
somnambulism  is  that  they  occur  during  sleep,  and  indi- 
cate a  special  attention  of  the  faculties  only  to  one  class 
of  objects,  the  insensibility  towards  others  being  com- 
plete. Now  we  meet  with  phenomena  during  the 
waking  hours,  which,  considered  objectively,  are  strictly 
analogous  to  these,  —  they  have  only  a  different  point 
of  departure.  Such  are  the  phases  of  absence  of  mind, 
revery,  and  abstraction,  —  all  essentially  different  in  na- 
ture, yet  all  presenting  the  same  external  aspect ;  and  so 
far  allied  as  that  they  depend  respectively  upon  the  de- 
gree of  attention  which  the  will  has  brought  to  bear  upon 
certain  pursuits.  These,  one  and  all,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  distinguish  by  accurate  description  from  the 
higher  lucidity  of  somnambulism,  —  except  in  so  far  as 
the  former  have  originated  by  a  disturbance  of  balance 
amongst  the  faculties  during  waking  moments  ;  whilst 
the  latter  commenced  by  the  polarity  itself,  organically 
excited  during  sleep. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  for  the  complete  ap- 
preciation of  the  external  world,  three  things  are  essen- 
tial:  (1)  Organs  of  the  senses  in  a  normal  healthful 
condition ;  (2)  a  proper  distribution  of  nervous  fluid,* 
ready  to  be  stimulated  by  the  appropriate  objects,  as 
light  to  the  eye,  sonorous  vibrations  to  the  ear,  &c.  ;  and 
(3)  an  exercise  (more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  the 
will)  of  the  faculty  of  attention  to  the  impressions  so 
produced  and  conveyed.  All  these  are  obviously  neces- 

*  Here,  ngain,  we  would  remark  that  no  theory  is  implied,  or  to  be 
understood,  by  the  use  of  this  term  "  nervous  fluid."  It  is  used  only  to 
express  the  fitness  or  adaptedness  for  appropriate  excitement,  by  any 
nerve  or  set  of  nerves,  as  thus:  the  optic  nerve  is  properly  supplied 
with  nervous  fluid  when  it  responds  normally  to  its  own  special  stimu- 
lus of  light,  &c.  But  by  this  we  no  more  hypothecate  the  actual  ex- 
istence of  a  fluid  proper,  than  we  do  when  speaking  popularly  of  the 
electric  fluid. 


REVERY   AND   ABSTRACTION.  367 

sary ;  if  the  first  be  absent,  the  negative  result  is  clear  : 
the  second  is  equally  essential ;  and  it  is  with  the  vari- 
ations of  the  third  element  that  we  are  now  especially 
concerned,  and  with  those  changes  which  these  variations 
induce  in  the  distribution  of  the  nervous  fluid.  We  will 
notice  these  under  three  natural  divisions,  according  (1) 
as  the  attention  cannot  be  directed  to  any  one  train  of 
thought,  but  wanders  off  to  any  other,  defying  the  efforts 
of  the  will  to  restrain  it ;  (2)  as  it  is  voluntarily  surren- 
dered up,  and  the  fancy  or  imagination  allowed,  or  even 
encouraged,  to  roam  amongst  things  known  or  unknown, 
things  in  heaven,  and  things  on  earth ;  and  (3)  as  the 
attention  is  firmly  fixed  on  one  train  of  thought,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  others,  and  to  the  ignoring  of  all 
external  influences.  All  these  present  the  same  external 
aspect ;  all  are  classed  popularly  under  one  head,  —  that 
of  "  wool-gathering,"  or  some  analogous  expression  ;  yet, 
whilst  the  first  form  is  the  characteristic  of  the  feeblest 
and  most  inefficient  intellects,  the  second  is  the  great 
prerogative  of  poets  and  artists  ;  and  the  third,  the  high- 
est of  all,  is  generally  found  in  the  persons  of  men  of 
intellect  the  most  exalted,  of  genius  the  most  transcend- 
ent. These  forms  may  be  known,  for  convenience,  as 
Revery,  Voluntary  Waking  Dream,  and  Abstraction  of 
Mind. 

1.  Revery  is  an  approach  to  dreaming  or  sleep  ;  the 
attention  to  surrounding  objects  begins  to  fail ;  and,  in- 
stead of  being  fixed  on  what  is  passing,  is  wandering  over 
a  thousand  vague  and  imperfectly  connected  ideas.  It  is 
common,  as  Dr.  Mason  Good  remarks,  "  at  schools  and 
at  church  ;  over  tasks  and  sermons ;  and  there  are  few 
readers  who  have  not  frequently  been  sensible  of  it  in 
one  degree  or  other."  Who  has  not  often  read  page  after 
page  of  a  book,  of  which  either  the  matter  has  been  un- 
interesting or  the  style  repulsive,  and  suddenly  discov- 


368  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

ered  that  the  reading  has  conveyed  no  ideas  to  the  mind? 
Who  has  not  often  in  succession  taken  out  his  watch  to 
see  the  time,  and  put  it  back  without  acquiring  the 
knowledge,  though  he  has  gazed  most  wistfully  at  the 
hands  1  We  may  talk  to  a  person  in  this  state,  and  his 
ears  will  gather  in  the  sound ;  but  the  mind  does  not  in- 
terpret it  into  ideas  ;  he  may  be  obscurely  conscious  of 
our  presence,  but  we  serve  only  as  a  start  ing-point  for 
some  weak  chain  of  associations,  which  end  —  probably 
nowhere.  He  listens  to  a  grave  discourse  with  an  ap- 
parent attention  most  profound  and  edifying ;  and,  at 
the  most  affecting  part,  his  train  of  thought  has  led  him 
possibly  to  some  ludicrous  association,  and  he  breaks 
into  uncontrollable  laughter. 

All  men  are,  at  some  time  or  other,  more  or  less  ex- 
perienced in  this  state  ;  it  almost  invariably  precedes 
gradual  sleep ;  often  occurs  for  a  short  time  before  awak- 
ing. At  other  times  it  is  productive  of  results  amusing 
enough  ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  those  minds 
of  which  this  has  become  the  habitual  and  incurable 
condition  are  in  the  most  pitiable  state  of  unfitness  for 
all  those  high  purposes  of  knowledge  and  reflection  for 
which  our  marvellous  powers  were  bestowed  upon  us. 
Things  the  most  important  and  the  most  sacred  equally 
fail  to  fix  his  attention  ;  and,  in  a  more  than  usually 
significant  sense,  trifles  make  up  the  sum  of  his  existence. 

An  extreme  case  of  Revery  is  related  by  Sir  A.  Crich- 
ton,  concerning  a  young  man  of  good  family,  and  origi- 
nally sound  intelligence,  in  whom  errors  and  defects  of 
< -duration  had  induced  an  almost  unconquerable  and 
constant  absence  of  mind.  He  would  sit  for  the  whole 
day  without  speaking,  yet  without  any  signs  of  melan- 
choly ;  for  the  play  of  his  countenance,  and  his  occa- 
sional laughter,  showed  that  a  multiplicity  of  thoughts 
were  passing  through  his  mind.  He  would  sometimes 


REVERY  AND   ABSTRACTION.  369 

begin  to  speak,  but  break  off  half-way,  having  completely 
forgotten  what  he  wished  to  say  ;  yet  when  thoroughly 
aroused,  he  manifested  no  intellectual  feebleness ;  and 
could  judge  correctly  on  any  matter  to  which  he  could 
be  induced  really  to  attend.  Most  probably,  in  this 
case,  an  original  defect  aided  the  faulty  mode  of  educa- 
tion. This  extreme  form  of  inattention,  or  rather  ina- 
bility to  attend,  may  occur  temporarily  as  a  morbid 
condition,  as  in  the  well-known  case  of  Mr.  Spalding, 
who,  in  attempting  to  write  a  receipt,  could  not  by  any 
possibility  form  the  correct  words ;  and  finally,  after 
long  and  arduous  effort,  discovered  that  he  had  written 

"  fifty  dollars,  through  the  salvation  of  Bra ."     This 

is  generally,  as  in  the  instance  related,  the  result  of 
overstrained  attention;  the  faculty  is  exhausted,  and 
will  work  no  more. 

2.  Voluntary  waking  dreams  result  essentially  from 
the  voluntary  surrender  of  the  influence  of  the  will  and 
attention ;  the  imaginative  faculties  being  allowed  un- 
disturbed play.  Macnish  observes  that  "  young  men  of 
vivid  sanguine  temperament  have  dreams  of  this  kind 
almost  every  morning  and  night.  Instead  of  submitting 
to  the  sceptre  of  sleep,  they  amuse  themselves  by  creat- 
ing a  thousand  visionary  scenes.  Though  broad  awake, 
their  judgment  does  not  exercise  the  slightest  sway,  and 
fancy  is  allowed  to  become  lord  of  the  ascendant.  Poets 
are  notoriously  castle-builders ;  and  poems  are,  in  fact, 

nothing  but  waking  dreams Milton's  mind,  during 

the  composition  of  *  Paradise  Lost,'  must  have  existed 

chiefly  in  the  state  of  a  sublime  waking  dream By 

another  law,  to  which  we  have  not  alluded,  the  emotions 
are  more  excited  in  proportion  as  attention,  will,  and 
judgment  are  dormant ;  and  thus  we  attain  to  the  vivid 
coloring  of  the  poet's  dream,  and  the  artist's  ideal 
There  is  a  strong  tendency  in  this  form  to  become  rnor- 
16*  x 


370  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

bid,  and  as  uncontrollable  as  that  first  noticed ;  then,  from 
one  of  the  noblest  gifts  of  human  nature,  it  becomes  one 
of  its  most  formidable  scourges.  Closely  allied  to  this 
form  of  day-dreaming,  though  in  one  respect  different 
from  it,  is  the  Revery  which  is  characteristic  of  several 
forms  of  religious  mysticism.  By  withdrawing  the  at- 
tention continuously  from  all  objects  of  sense,  the  spirit 
is  supposed  to  become  purified,  and  united  with  the 
Deity ;  and  the  mystic  is  favored  with  celestial  visions. 
All  this  is  accomplished  by  directing  the  sole  attention 
to  some  object  as  uninteresting  as  the  point  of  the  nose, 
at  which  the  Fakirs  squint  horribly,  "  until  the  blessing 
of  a  new  light  beams  upon  them."  "  The  monks  of 
Mount  Athos,"  says  Dr.  Moore,  "  were  accustomed,  in  a 
manner  equally  ridiculous,  and  with  the  same  success, 
to  hold  converse,  as  they  fancied,  with  the  Deity.  Alla- 
tius  thus  describes  the  directions  for  securing  the  celes- 
tial joys  of  Omphalopsychian  contemplation  :  '  Press 
thy  beard  upon  thy  breast,  turn  thine  eyes  and  thoughts 
upon  the  middle  of  thine  abdomen  ;  persevere  for  days 
and  nights,  and  thou  shalt  know  uninterrupted  joys, 
when  thy  spirit  shall  have  found  out  thy  heart,  and  illu- 
minated itself."  Similar  is  the  practice  of  the  Yogis,  as 
quoted  by  Mr.  Vaughan.*  "  He  planteth  his  own  sent 
firmly  on  a  spot  that  is  uudefiled,  neither  too  high  nor 
too  low,  and  sitteth  upon  the  sacred  grass  which  is 
called  Koos,  covered  with  a  skin  and  a  cloth.  There  he 
whose  business  is  the  restraining  of  his  passions  should 
sit,  with  his  mind  fixed  on  one  object  alone  ;  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  devotion  for  the  purification  of  his  soul, 
keeping  his  head,  his  neck,  and  body  steady,  without 
motion  ;  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  point  of  his  nose,  looking 
at  no  other  place  around."  By  this  interesting  and  en- 

*  "  Hours  with  the  Mystics,"  Vol.  I.  ]>.  03. 


RE  VERY  AND   ABSTRACTION.  371 

livening  process,  the  soul  is  supposed  to  be  "  reunited 
to  the  Supreme." 

All  fixed  attention  intensifies  sensation ;  attention  to 
bodily  sensation  produces  a  form  of  hypochondria ;  at- 
tention to  scientific  investigation  is  rewarded  by  clearer 
and  more  accurate  appreciation  of  its  truths ;  but  above  all, 
constant  attention  to  the  emotions  has  an  overwhelming 
tendency  to  heighten  them  to  an  incredible  and  morbid 
extent.  Hence  arise  many  of  the  strange  psychopathies 
of  the  present  day  \  and  hence  we  can  readily  imagine 
the  constant  waiting  and  watching  for  visions  in  these 
mystics,  to  be  attended  with  the  required  result,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  simplest  laws  of  mind.  But  we  pass 
briefly  over  this,  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  devote  a 
little  more  space  to  the  third  and  most  important  form 
of  absence  of  mind. 

3.  Neither  in  revery  nor  day-dreaming  is  there  deter- 
mined what  we  have  termed  a  true  polarity,  i.  e.  a  con- 
centration of  nervous  force  upon  one  point,  attended  by 
a  corresponding  diminution  in  all  the  others.  There  is 
certainly  observed  this  diminution,  but  without  concen- 
tration ;  the  place  of  this  last  being  usurped  by  an  ex- 
haustion of  the  nervous  energy  upon  a  multitude  of 
ideas.  But  in  abstraction,  the  complete  and  typical 
form  of  absence  of  mind,  this  polarity  is  developed.  By 
earnest  attention  to  one  point,  or  line  of  thought,  the 
whole  energy  of  the  mind  becomes  absorbed  in  and  ex- 
pended upon  this ;  and  although  the  senses  remain 
intact,  the  nervous  fluid  receives  no  stimulation  from 
them,  and  the  mind  attends  to  no  impressions  but  su.ch 
as  are  connected  with  the  chain  of  ideas, — as  are  within 
the  sphere  of  polarity.  Then  ensues  the  whole  train  of 
phenomena,  the  odd  mistakes,  the  singular  misinterpre- 
tations of  external  objects,  the  indifference  to  outer 
sights  and  sounds,  ami  the  insensibility  to  inconvenience, 


372  A   PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

or  even  acute  pain,  which  gain  for  their  possessor  the 
character  of  eccentricity  at  least.  This,  the  extreme 
development  of  the  most  valuable  faculty  of  the  mind, 
and  that  without  which  all  the  others,  however  brilliant, 
are  worthless,  is  the  direct  agent  in  bringing  its  possessor 
into  the  most  absurd  and  troublesome  dilemmas ;  and  con- 
tinually suggests  the  close  association  between  great  wit 
and  madness.  The  most  characteristic  illustrations  are 
found  amongst  names  which  have  made  the  world's 
mental  history.  Archimedes  was  at  the  taking  of  Syra- 
cuse so  absorbed  in  a  geometrical  problem,  that  he 
merely  exclaimed  to  the  soldier  who  was  about  to 
kill  him,  Noli  turbare  circulos  meos.  Newton's  absence 
of  mind  is  well  known  :  he  frequently  forgot  to  dine, 
and  it  is  said  he  on  one  occasion  used  a  lady's  finger  as 
a  tobacco-stopper.  It  is  said  that  Joseph  Scaliger  was 
so  engrossed  in  the  study  of  Homer  during  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  that  he  was  only  aware  of  his  own 
escape  from  it  on  the  next  day.  Carneades  had  to  be 
fed  by  his  maid-servant,  to  prevent  him  from  starving. 
Cardan  was  wont  on  a  journey  to  forget  both  his  way 
and  his  object,  and  could  not  be  roused  from  his  thought 
to  answer  any  questions.  Alcibiades  relates  of  Socrates 
that  he  once  stood  a  whole  day  and  night,  until  the 
breaking  of  the  second  morning,  with  a  fixed  gaze,  en- 
grossed with  the  consideration  of  a  weighty  subject ; 
"  and  thus,"  he  continues,  "  Socrates  is  ever  wont  to  do 
when  his  mind  is  occupied  with  inquiries  in  which  there 
are  difficulties  to  be  overcome.  He  then  never  interrupts 
his  meditation,  and  forgets  to  eat  and  drink  and  sleep,  — 
everything,  in  short,  until  his  inquiry  has  reached  its 
termination,  or,  at  Ic.tst  until  he  has  seen  some  light  in 
it."  The  mathematician  Virtu  \\as  sometimes  so  ab- 
sorbed in  meditation,  "  that  he  seemed  for  hours  more 
like  a  dead  person  than  a  living,  and  was  then  wholly 


BEVERY   AND   ABSTRACTION.  373 

unconscious  of  everything  going  on  around  him."*  The 
great  Budseus  forgot  his  wedding-day,  and  was  found 
deep  in  his  Commentary  when  sought  up  by  the  party. 

The  forgetfulness  of  time  is  a  very  common  event 
during  abstraction ;  of  this  the  instance  already  given  of 
Socrates  is  almost  equalled  by  that  of  a  modern  astrono- 
mer (quoted  by  Dr.  Moore),  who  passed  the  entire  night 
observing  some  celestial  phenomenon  ;  and  being  accosted 
by  some  of  his  family  in  the  morning,  he  said  :  "  It 
must  be  thus ;  I  will  go  to  bed  before  it  is  late." 

Perhaps  the  insensibility  to  pain  is  the  most  remarkable 
of  all  the  phenomena  connected  with  abstraction.  Pinel 
relates  of  a  priest  that,  in  a  fit  of  mental  absence,  he  was 
unconscious  of  the  pain  of  burning  ;  the  same  is  stated 
of  the  Italian  poet.  Marini.  Cardan  relates  something 
analogous  concerning  himself.  Cases  like  these  might 
well  leave  some  doubt  in  the  mind  as  to  their  authen- 
ticity, had  we  not  analogous  facts  sufficiently  illustrative 
of  their  possibility.  Thus  in  Mr.  Braid's  hypnotic  (or 
sleep-producing)  process,  which  consists  only  in  fixing  the 
sight  and  the  attention  on  one  point  for  some  time,  a 
deep  sleep  is  induced,  during  which  much  pain  may  be 
inflicted  without  producing  any  signs  of  suffering.  In 
this  case,  as  in  that  of  extreme  abstraction,  the  attention 
so  directs  the  nervous  fluid,  energy,  excitability,  or  what- 
ever we  please  to  call  it,  in  one  direction,  that  it  responds 
to  no  other  stimulus,  until  the  polarity  is  naturally  re- 
solved or  forcibly  broken. 

The  absent  man  is  looked  upon  with  a  very  different 
degree  and  kind  of  appreciation  by  the  man  of  the  world, 
the  poet,  and  the  philosopher ;  whilst  the  former  only 
sees  in  abstraction  a  subject  for  burlesque  and  ridicule, 
the  latter  recognizes  in  it  a  great  and  important  faculty, 
mysterious,  and  worthy  of  investigation ;  and  the  poet 

*  Sir  William  Hamilton. 


374  A  PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

revels  and  glories  in  the  gift  as  something  divine. 
Budgell,  in  the  Spectator  (No.  77),  represents  Will 
Honeycomb  as  throwing  away  his  watch  instead  of  a 
pebble  into  the  Thames.  "  While  you  may  imagine  he 
is  reading  the  Paris  Gazette,  it  is  far  from  being  impos- 
sible that  he  is  pulling  down  and  rebuilding  the  front  of 
his  country  house."  Bruyere  in  his  "  Characters  "  gives 
a  graphic  but  somewhat  coarse  sketch  of  a  similar  char- 
acter, in  which  he  is  supposed  to  swallow  the  dice  and 
throw  his  glass  of  wine  on  the  table  ;  and  many  other 
equally  absurd  acts,  wherein  nothing  is  seen  but  the 
ridiculous  aspect  of  the  mental  condition.  How  different 
is  the  same  phase  of  mind  described  by  Cowper,  in  lines 
which  contain  so  many  of  the  noteworthy  points  of 
revery  that  we  quote  them  entire  :  — 

"  Laugh  ye,  who  boast  your  more  mercurial  powers, 
That  never  fed  a  stupor,  know  no  pause, 
Nor  need  one  ;  I  am  conscious,  and  confess, 
Fearless,  a  soul  that  does  not  always  think. 
Me,  oft  has  fancy,  ludicrous  and  wild, 
Soothed  with  a  waking  dream  of  houses,  towers, 
Trees,  churches,  and  strange  visages  expressed 
In  the  red  cinders,  while  with  poring  eye 
I  gazed,  myself  creating  what  I  saw. 
'T  is  thus  the  understanding  takes  repose 
In  indolent  vacuity  of  thought, 
And  sleeps,  and  is  refreshed.    Meanwhile  the  face 
Conceals  the  mood  lethargic  with  a  mask 
Of  deep  deliberation,  as  the  man 
Were  tasked  to  his  full  strength,  absorbed  and  lost.11 

But  Sir  Walter  Scott,  great  wizard  equally  in  prose  or 
verse,  gives  by  far  the  most  lifelike  and  attractive  repre- 
sentation of  the  abstracted  man ;  with  just  that  slight 
artistic  saupfon  of  caricature,  for  want  of  which  a  photo- 
graphic portrait  always  fails  to  convey  a  perfect  idea  of 
the  original.  What  can  be  more  admirable  than  the 
picture  of  the  distrait  Dominie  Sampson,  with  his  un- 
gainly figure,  his  childlike  simplicity,  his  pro-di-gi-ous 


REVERY   AND   ABSTRACTION.  375 

er-u-di  tion,  as  he  would  call  it,  his  tender  affectionate 
heart,  and  his  endless  uncouth  gaucheries  ?  Who  that 
has  once  seen  him  can  ever  forget  him  ;  or,  remembering, 
fail  to  love  him  1 

But  it  is  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Cargill,  in  "  St.  Ronan's 
Well,"  that  we  meet  with  a  sketch  the  most  accurate  and 
philosophically  true  that  we  have  ever  seen  of  mental 
abstraction.  From  the  original  cause,  to  the  most  minute 
details  in  the  results,  all  is  correct ;  the  utter  absorption 
in  one  train  of  ideas,  the  insensibility  to  all  others,  the 
imperfect  awakening  to  practical  life  when  the  familiar 
sounds  of  "  distress  "  and  "  charity  "  partly  arouse  the 
old  instincts,  even  as  the  sound  of  a  man's  own  name  will 
sometimes  break  the  chain  of  ideas,  when  a  pistol  fired 
at  the  ear  would  fail  to  do  so  ;  the  dream-like  absence  of 
surprise  at  anything  which  chimes  in  with  the  current 
idea,  however  strange  the  source,  the  incapacity  to  be 
recalled  completely,  except  through  the  emotions  ;  all  are 
admirably  represented.  W^e  are  tempted  to  quote  one 
scene  :  Mr.  Touchwood,  a  rich,  testy  old  gentleman,  finds 
himself  in  a  country  place  in  want  of  company,  and  re- 
solves to  call  on  the  minister.  After  much  difficulty  in 
obtaining  admission,  he  gets  into  the  student's  room,  but, 
when  there,  appears  to  be  as  far  from  his  real  purpose  as 
ever ;  for  no  noise  that  he  can  make  will  attract  his  at- 
tention. At  last  he  speaks  to  him,  explaining  that  he  is 
in  "  distress  for  want  of  society,"  and  begs  him,  "  in 
Christian  charity,"  to  give  him  a  little  of  his  company. 
Mr.  Cargill  only  heard  "  distress "  and  "  charity,"  and 
"  gazing  upon  him  with  lack-lustre  eye,"  quietly  thrust  a 
shilling  into  his  hand.  To  this  Mr.  Touchwood  demurs, 
and  by  degrees  so  far  arouses  Mr.  Cargill's  attention  that 
he  believes  he  has  the  pleasure  "  to  see  his  worthy  friend, 
Mr.  Lavender."  When  this  hypothesis  fails  equally  with 
the  other,  he  begs  permission  for  a  moment  to  "  recover 


376  A  PHYSICIAN'S  PROBLEMS. 

a  train  of  thought,  —  to  finish  a  calculation  "  ;  and  then 
relapses  into  total  disregard  of  his  visitor.  At  length, 
just  as  Mr.  Touchwood  began  to  think  the  scene  as 
tedious  as  it  was  singular,  the  abstracted  student  raised 
his  head,  and  spoke  as  if  in  soliloquy  :  "  From  Aeon, 
Accor,  or  St.  John  d'Acre,  to  Jerusalem,  how  far  ] " 
"  Twenty-three  miles,  N.N.W.,"  answered  his  visitor, 
without  hesitation. 

Mr.  Cargill  expressed  no  more  surprise  at  a  question 
which  he  had  put  to  himself  being  answered  by  the 
voice  of  another  than  if  he  had  found  the  distance  on 
the  map.  It  was  the  tenor  of  the  answer  alone  which 
he  attended  to  in  his  reply.  "  Twenty-three  miles ! 
Ingulphus,  and  Jeffrey  Winesauf,  do  not  agree  in  this  ! " 

Mr.  Touchwood's  reply  is  a  private  commination  of 
these  respectable  authorities,  which  arouses  the  pastor's 
instincts,  though  it  fails  to  completely  awake  him. 
"  You  might  have  contradicted  their  authority,  sir,  with- 
out using  such  an  expression."  Drawn  out  at  length 
into  rational  colloquy,  and  under  the  promise  of  much 
information  on  the  subject  of  the  geography  of  Pales- 
tine, Mr.  Cargill  accepts  an  invitation  to  dine  with  his 
visitor;  he,  of  course,  forgets  it  immediately,  and  on 
being  sought  up  by  Mr.  Touchwood  at  dinner-time,  he 
commences  an  apology  for  having  forgotten  to  order  the 
dinner,  and  proposes  milk  and  bannocks.  On  the  true 
state  of  the  case  being  explained,  he  becomes  rather 
triumphant  as  to  his  memory.  "  I  knew  there  was  a 
dinner  engagement  betwixt  us,  and  that  is  the  main 
point."  He  wishes  to  set  off  in  his  old  dusty  ragged 
dressing-gown,  and  remarks  in  passing,  "What  sti-an-v 
slaves  we  make  ourselves  to  these  bodies  of  ours ;  the 
clothing  and  the  sustaining  of  them  cost  us  much 
thought  and  leisure,  which  might  be  better  employed  in 
catering  for  the  wants  of  our  immortal  spirits ! "  a 


REVERT   AND   ABSTRACTION.  377 

reproach  to  which  he  of  all  men  would  seem  least  ob- 
noxious. 

We  have  had  occasion  more  than  once  to  allude,  in 
the  course  of  these  observations,  to  the  obliviousness  of 
time  in  re  very.  Sometimes  we  are  unconscious  that 
more  than  a  few  moments  have  passed,  after  many  hours 
of  thought :  this  is  the  case  in  abstraction  proper.  At 
other  times,  as  in  true  revery,  we  seem  to  pass  over  im- 
mense periods  of  time  in  a  few  seconds.  A  phenomenon 
strictly  analogous  to  this  is  observed  in  dreams,  where,  as 
all  are  conscious,  scenes  are  enacted  occupying  weeks  or 
months,  or  years,  in  as  many  moments.  Mahomet  (ipso 
teste)  was  conveyed  by  the  angel  Gabriel  through  the 
seven  heavens,  paradise,  and  hell,  and  held  59,000  con- 
ferences with  God,  and  was  brought  back  to  his  bed 
before  the  water  had  finished  flowing  from  a  pitcher 
which  he  upset  as  he  departed.  There  is  another  mar- 
vellous story  related  in  the  Turkish  Tales,  founded  upon 
this ;  where  to  convince  one  of  the  sultans  of  the  possi- 
bility of  this  adventure  of  Mahomet's  he  himself  is  sent 
off  in  a  vision  upon  a  journey  which  lasts  for  years,  dur- 
ing the  instant  which  elapses  between  plunging  his  head 
into  a  vessel  of  water  and  drawing  it  out.  But  these 
fictions  are  not  necessary  to  convince  any  one  who  has 
ever  dreamed,  how  much  incident,  thought,  and  emotion 
may  be  crowded  into  an  almost  immeasurably  short 
moment  of  time.  Hence  we  might  conclude  that  our 
only  personal  measure  of  time  consists  in  the  observa- 
tion of  successive  acts  of  attention ;  and  when  this  is 
dormant,  time  for  us  may  be  said  not  to  exist.  But  we 
would  venture  to  suggest  that  in  these  cases,  both  in 
active  revery  and  dreaming,  there  is  not  so  much  a  suc- 
cession of  ideas  as  a  simultaneous  picture  presented, 
which  the  mind  interprets  by  a  law  of  its  own  into  the 
past  and  the  passing,  even  as  the  eye  interprets  the  dis- 


378  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS 

tance  of  the  various  parts  of  a  perspective,  according  to 
the  degrees  of  light  and  shade  therein  involved.  In  a 
landscape,  the  most  uneducated  eye  will  pronounce  the 
red  coat  or  cloak,  or  the  prominent  feature,  whatever 
that  may  be,  to  be  near  at  hand  ;  and  the  dim  dusky 
mountain  in  the  background  to  be  miles  a\vay.  The 
ear  is  subject  to  similar  illusions,  and  it  would  not  be 
difficult  to  prove  that  the  mind  itself  is  subject  to  the 
laws  of  perspective,  and  interprets  occasionally  faint  im- 
jH'i-xxintis  into  the  fadiitf/  traces  of  past  experiences.  That 
the  mind  has  an  arbitrary  system  of  interpretation 
must  be  immediately  obvious,  for  to  take  only  one 
illustration,  what  can  possibly  be  more  dissimilar  than 
the  vibrations  conveyed  through  the  medium  of  the 
auditory  nerve  to  the  mind,  and  the  concert  of  sweet 
sounds  into  which  the  mind  interprets  them  1  The  same 
theory,  if  admitted,  will  serve  fully  to  elucidate  a  curious 
mental  phenomenon,  which  has  often  been  described,  but 
never  satisfactorily  explained ;  we  refer  to  that  feeling 
which  many  experience  occasionally,  of  having  witnessed, 
or  taken  part  in,  the  passing  scene  of  the  moment,  at 
some  previous  time ;  as  though  we  had  even  heard  all 
that  is  passing  before,  and  could  almost  predict  the  next 
act  or  word  ;  or,  as  a  friend  graphically  describes  it,  "  as 
though  the  play  were  now  being  performed  which  we 
had  previously  seen  rehearsed."  The  explanation  which 
we  would  suggest  is  this.  Whatever  may  be  the  truth 
as  to  the  duality  of  the  mind,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
whatever  that  its  organ,  the  brain,  is  dual  and  symmetri- 
cal, and  constantly  receives  double  impressions  or 
images.  I'lider  ordinary  circumstances  of  innervation, 
impressions  strictly  coincide,  and  convey  but  one 
idea  to  the  mind ;  as  the  images  on  the  two  retinae  con- 
vey but  one  object  to  the  mind,  so  long  as  the  axes  of 
the  eye  coincide.  But  under  circumstances  of  exhaus- 


REVERT   AND   ABSTRACTION.  379 

tion,  or  other  influences  producing  irregular  innervation, 
the  one  half  of  the  brain  receives  a  perfect,  and  the 
other  a  dim  and  imperfect,  impression  of  what  is  going 
forward;  and  this  dim  and  indistinct  phantasm,  occur- 
ring side  by  side  with  the  correct  image,  is  interpreted 
involuntarily  by  the  mind  into  the  semblance  of  a  mem- 
ory, a  fading  impress  of  a  long  past  event. 

But  this  is  a  digression  ;  and  we  have  now  but  space 
briefly  to  sum  up  the  practical  conclusions  from  these 
considerations  on  Revery.  We  have  seen  reason  to 
believe  that  Attention,  under  the  power  and  command 
of  the  will,  is  the  most  important  of  our  faculties ;  inas- 
much as  without  this  all  the  others  are  absolutely  or  com- 
paratively valueless.  We  have  seen  the  pitiable  condi- 
tion to  which  the  mind  is  reduced  when  this  faculty  is 
no  longer  controllable  by  the  will ;  and  also  how  com- 
pletely, if  over-exerted,  it  runs  away  with  the  entire  con- 
sciousness ;  and  makes  the  subject  of  it  a  mere  thinking- 
machine,  and  one,  moreover,  which  can  only  think  in  one 
direction.  It  only  remains  to  inquire  how,  and  under 
what  conditions,  these  variations  of  attention  occur  and 
originate. 

There  appears  sometimes  to  be  an  original  defect  of 
the  faculty  ;  should  this  be  the  case,  vain  will  be  all 
efforts  directed  to  its  cure  ;  let  this  be  well  understood. 
Much  more  frequently,  however,  a  want  of  the'  faculty 
of  attention  is  induced  by  some  of  our  ingenious  devices 
for  the  "artificial  production  of  stupidity."  Perhaps 
the  faculty  is  neglected  altogether,  and,  for  want  of  ex- 
ercise, dies.  Perhaps  the  young  mind  is  compelled  to 
devote  exclusive  attention  to  subjects  thoroughly  dis- 
tasteful and  useless,  and  for  which  it  has  no  aptitude ; 
nothing  encourages  wandering  of  mind  more  than  this. 
Perhaps,  again,  the  subjects  of  study  are  proper  enough, 
but  too  numerous  for  the  powers;  and  the  faculty  of 


380  A   PHYSICIAN'S   PROBLEMS. 

attention  is  thus  distracted,  frittered  away,  and  lost. 
Again,  the  faculty  may  have  been  acquired  and  fully 
developed,  but  may  decay  from  indolence,  from  disease, 
from  luxury,  and  from  all  debilitating  influences.  The 
prophylaxis  and  remedy  against  all  this  is  too  obvious 
to  dwell  upon. 

Abstraction  proper  is  most  frequently  due,  as  to  its 
origin,  we  believe,  to  some  want  of  balance  in  the  human 
interests  of  the  life  in  question  ;  probably  some  lack  of 
outlet  for  the  emotional  part  of  our  nature  has  thrown 
its  possessor  upon  his  intellect  as  a  relief ;  and  upon  one 
branch  of  study  for  an  all-absorbing  interest.  There  may, 
however,  be  an  original  tendency  as  in  the  last  case  ;  and 
it  may  also  occur  from  voluntary  cultivation,  or  from  the 
impression  produced  by  some  scientific  or  philosophic 
discovery. 

Whatever  may  be  the  sources  and  origin  of  absence  of 
mind,  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  that  it  is  necessary 
to  guard  sternly  and  strictly  against  its  progress,  and  to 
use  those  means  which  will  in  the  one  case  promote  at- 
tention, and,  in  the  other,  modify  its  intensity.  For 
diverse  as  are  the  forms  which  we  have  described,  they 
have  a  strong  tendency,  one  and  all,  to  terminate  in 
literal  and  emphatic  "  absence  of  mind"  i.  e.  in  annihila- 
tion of  the  power  of  thought. 


NOTES. 


NATURAL  HERITAGE. 

WORKS  REFERRED  TO  IN  THIS  ESSAY. 

1.  Traite  philosophique  et  physiologique  de  1'Hcredite  naturelle, 
dans  les  Etats  de  Sante  et  de  Maladie  du  Systeme  nerveux.    Par 
M.  Prosper  Lucas.    Paris. 

2.  Essay  on  Hereditary  Diseases,  and  on  Hereditary  Tendency 
to  Depravity   and    Crimes.      By  Julius  Henry   Steinau,   M.  D. 
Berlin. 

3.  Institutiones  Physiological.     By  I.  F.  Blumenbach. 

4.  Lectures  on  Physiology,  Zoology,  and  the  Natural  History  of 
Man.     By  Sir  Wm.  Lawrence. 

5.  The  Use  of  the  Body  in  Relation  to  the  Mind.    By  George 
Moore,  M.  D. 

6.  On  Intermarriage.     By  Alexander  Walker. 

7.  Researches  into  the  Physical  History  of  Mankind.     By  J.  C. 
Prichard,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S. 


NOTE  1,  p.  10. 

"  Medicine  in   Modern   Times."     Discourse  by  Dr.   Gull  on 
Clinical  Observation,  p.  187. 

NOTE  2,  p.  13. 
Sinibaldi's  "  Geneanthropeia,"  Lib.  VIII. 

NOTE  3,  p.  18. 
"  De  Civitate  Dei,"  Lib.  V.  caps.  2  and  7. 


382  NOTES   TO  NATURAL   HERITAGE. 

NOTE  4,  p.  19. 
"  Considerations  sur  les  Corps  organise'es,"  Tome  II.  chap.  7. 

NOTE  5,  p.  21. 
"  Anatomy  of  Melancholy." 

NOTE  6,  p.  28. 
"  On  Hereditary  Diseases." 

NOTE  7,  p.  35. 

That  is,  where  idiocy  is  not  complete,  in  which  case  there  is  no 
continuance  of  the  race.  The  complete  idiot  is  the  last  term  of 
degeneration. 

NOTE  8,  p.  38. 
"  History  of  European  Morals,"  Vol.  I.  p.  62. 

NOTE  9,  p.  39. 
"  Essay  on  William  Pitt." 

NOTE  10,  p.  41. 

For  obvious  reasons,  I  do  not  dwell  on  this  subject.  For  illus- 
trations, the  reader  may  consult  Fode're,  "  Sur  la  Folie." 

NOTE  11,  p.  49. 

I  subjoin  some  illustrations  given  by  M.  Lucas,  without,  how- 
ever, guaranteeing  their  authenticity. 

Quoted  from  Sigaud  de  Lafond,  "  Diet,  des  Merveilles  de  la 
Nature,"  Tome  II.  p.  162  :  "  The  wife  of  one  of  the  coachmen  of 
Charles  X.  became  to  the  surprise  of  herself,  her  husband,  and  her 
children,  who  were  thirty  or  forty  years  old,  enceinte  at  sixty-five 
years  of  age.  Her  pregnancy  followed  the  usual  course,  but  the 
child  presented  all  the  marks  of  the  senility  of  the  parents. 

"  Marguerite  Crihsowna,  who  died  in  1  7ti;j,  aged  one  hundred 
and  eight  years,  was  married  for  the  third  time  when  aged  ninetv- 
four,  to  a  man  aged  one  hundred  and  five.  From  this  union  were 
born  three  children,  who  wen-  living  at  tin-  death  of  their  mother; 
but  they  had  gray  hair  and  no  teeth  ;  they  lived  only  ujion  bread 
and  vegetable.  They  were  >utliciently  tall  for  their  age,  hut  had 
the  stoop,  the  withered  complexion,  and  all  the  other  signs  of  de- 
crepitude." 

"  Filii    ex    scnibus    nati,    raro    sunt    firmi    tcmpcramenti."  — 

SCOLTZIUS. 


NOTES   TO  NATURAL   HERITAGE.  383 

NOTE  12,  p.  56. 

"  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  Mind,"  2d  edit.  p.  243.  London, 
1868. 

NOTE  13,  p.  58. 
"  Traite  des  Degcne'rescences,"  p.  62. 

NOTE  14,  p.  61. 

Perhaps  I  ought  not  to  style  the  Chinese  actually  barbarous ;  but 
certainly  such  civilization  as  they  possess,  refined  as  it  may  be  in 
some  respects,  does  not  contain  within  itself  the  elements  of  de- 
velopment and  progress.  M.  Biot  gives  some  interesting  accounts 
of  their  manners  and  customs ;  from  which  it  appears  that  these 
have  been  absolutely  the  same  for  a  thousand  years.  See  his 
"  Melanges  Scientifiques  et  Litte'raires." 

NOTE  15,  p.  63. 

The  "  racer  "  may  also  be  considered  degenerate  in  all  respects 
save  that  of  speed  ;  —  bred  for  a  speciality,  he  is  good  for  nothing 
else.  Probably  there  are  more  "  weeds"  —  showy,  worthless  ani- 
mals —  produced  from  the  pure  racing  breed  than  from  any  other. 

NOTE  16,  p.  65. 

I  give  these  views  as  those  generally  entertained  by  good  author- 
ities ;  but  my  own  opinion,  as  I  have  stated  in  an  earlier  part  of 
the  essay,  is  not  in  accordance  with  them. 

NOTE  17,  p.  65. 

See,  on  this  subject,  M.  Devay's  Treatise,  "  Du  Danger  des 
Manages  consanguins." 

NOTE  18,  p.  67. 
"  Anatomy  of  Melancholy." 

NOTE  19,  p.  71. 

On  some  means  of  counteracting  the  various  evils  here  referred 
to,  I  quote  the  following  passage  from  Dr.  Mayer's  work,  "  Des 
Kapports  mujuiraiix  "  (Paris,  isiis)  :  — 

"  La  mcilk'iuv  aiaiiiriv  <K-  rorrigrr  N1*  dispositions  morbidcs  IHMV- 
ditains,  ti-lles  quo  la  phthisic,  la  goutte,  k-  raiuvr,  los  scrofuk-s.  <£r., 
c'est  le  croisement  des  races  et  des  tempr'num-nts  afin  (|u'il  sVta- 
blisse  une  sorte  decompensation  entre  les  qualitr's  negatives  de  1'un 
des  organismes  et  1'exces  en  sens  contraire  de  1'autre,  d'ou  re'sultc, 


384  NOTES   TO  DEGENERATIONS   IN  MAN. 

en  dernierc  analyse,  une  ponde'ration  profitable  k  la  constitution  dc 
la  progeniture. 

"  Consulter  k  ce  snjet  son  mc'decin  ;  ne  pas  craindrc  d'entcndro 
la  verite  sortir  de  sa  bouche  ;  1'encourager  meme  a  s'expliqucr  cato- 
goriquement ;  tel  est  le  devoir  des  peres  et  meres.  C'est  un  actc 
d'humanite  que  chaque  famille  doit  remplir.  Le  medecin,  de  son 
cote,  par  1'importance  de  son  ministerc,  doit  agir  avec  toute  hi 
sincerite  de  sa  conscience,  et  se  placer  comrae  juge  impartial  entre 
les  families,  pour  rejeter  les  alliances  dont  les  suites  ne  pourraient 
qu'etre  funestes  a  1'un  ou  a  1'autre  des  epoux,  ou  aux  deux  a  la 
fois." 

NOTE  20,  p.  81. 

"  Traite'  des  Dege'ne'rescences,"  p.  568. 


DEGENERATIONS   IN  MAN. 

WORKS  REFERRED  TO  IN  THIS  ESSAY. 

1.  Traite    des    Degenerescences    physiques,   intellcctuellcs    et 
morales  de  TEspece  humaine ;  et  des  Causes  qui  produisent  ccs 
Varietes  maladives.     Par  le  Docteur  B.  A.  Morel. 

2.  De  France  en  Chine.     Par  Dr.  Yvan. 

3.  Rapports  sur  les  Marais  salants.     Par  M.  Melier. 

4.  Ueber  die  endemischen  Krankheiten  Schwedens.      By  Dr. 
Magnus  Huss. 

5.  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  Mind.     By  Dr.  Maudesley. 

6.  The  Chinese  Empire.     By  the  Abbe  Hue. 

7.  Etudes  sur  la  Vie  anglaise.     Par  Leon  Faucher. 


NOTE  1,  p.  90. 

In  thus  broadly  assorting  m mi's  original  purity,  and  /</.<  creation, 
I  am  aware  that  I  manit'ot  a  striking  ignorance  or  disregard 
of  the  received  philosophy  of  the  day.  "  Creation  "  has,  in  the 
minds  of  many,  given  place  to  "Development"  ;  and  the  Creator 
to  an  impersonal  law,  or  a  selective  chance.  As  a  natural  conse- 


NOTES  TO  DEGENERATIONS  IN  MAN.  385 

qucnce,  the  original  purity  of  man  is  only  such  purity  as  could  be 
derived  from  his  immediate  parent,  the  ape.  Tending  to  this  end, 
I  have  seen  much  bold  assertion  and  crude  generalization,  but,  so 
fur  as  I  can  observe,  no  vestige  of  proof  has  been  offered.  This 
may  be  forthcoming  in  the  future  ;  — en  attendant,  I  prefer  the  an- 
cient belief  which,  although  much  despised,  presents  to  my  mind 
greatly  fewer  difficulties,  even  in  a  scientific  aspect,  than  the  new 
doctrines.  As  will  be  seen  from  the  text,  the  question  is  not  ur- 
gent for  the  purposes  in  view. 

NOTE  2,  p.  95. 

"  Traite'  des  Degenerescences  physiques,  intellectuelles  et  morales 
de  1'Especc  humaine ;  et  des  Causes  qui  produisent  ces  Varie'tes 
maladives."  Par  le  Docteur  B.  A.  Morel.  To  this  valuable  work 
I  am  much  indebted  in  the  course  of  the  essay. 

NOTE  3,  p.  97. 
M.  Morel,  op.  cit. 

NOTE  4,  p.  110. 
Dr.  Magnus  Huss,  "  Ueber  die  endemischen  Krankheiten." 

NOTE  5,  p.  113. 

"  The  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  Mind."  By  Henry  Mau- 
desley,  M.  D.  Second  edition,  1868  ;  p.  253. 

NOTE  6,  p.  113. 

Add  to  this  the  pregnant  remark  by  Toussenel  in  "  Le  Monde 
des  Oiseaux,"  p.  106  :  "  On  sait  que  les  enfants  se  ressentent 
ge'ne'ralement  de  ['influence  passionnelle  qui  a  preside  a  leur  con- 
ception. La  plupart  des  idiots  sont  des  enfants  procrees  dans 
Tivresse  bacchique ! " 

NOTE?,  p.  117. 

"  The  question  for  determination  is  not,  What  are  the  effects  of 
opium  used  to  excess  ?  but,  What  are  its  moral  and  physical  ef- 
fects on  the  constitution  of  the  mass  of  the  individuals  who  use  it 
habitually,  and  in  moderation,  either  as  a  stimulant  to  sustain  the 
frame  under  fatigue,  or  as  a  restorative  and  sedative  after  labor, 
bodily  or  mental  ?  Having  passed  three  years  in  China,  I  may  be 
allowed  to  state  the  results  of  my  observation,  and  I  can  affirm 
thus  far,  that  the  effects  of  the  abuse  of  the  drug  do  not  come  very 
frequently  under  observation ;  and  that  when  cases  do  occur,  the 
17  T 


386  NOTES  TO  DEGENERATIONS  IN   MAN. 

habit  is  found  very  often  to  have  been  induced  by  the  presence  of 
some  painful  chronic  disorder,  to  escape  from  the  sufferings  of 
which  the  patient  has  fled  to  this  resource.  That  this  is  not  al- 
ways the  case,  however,  I  am  perfectly  ready  to  admit ;  and  there 
are,  doubtless,  many  who  indulge  in  the  habit  to  a  pernicious  rx- 
tent,  led  by  the  same  morbid  impulses  which  induce  me,n  to  become 
drunkards  in  even  the  most  civilized  countries.  But  these  cases 
do  not,  at  all  events,  come  before  the  public  eye.  It  requires  no 
laborious  research  in  civilized  England  to  discover  evidences  of  the 
pernicious  effects  of  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors,  — our  open  and 
thronged  gin-palaces,  and  our  streets,  afford  abundant  testimony  on 
the  subject,  —  but  in  China,  this  open  evidence,  at  least,  of  the 
evil  effects  of  opium,  is  wanting.  As  regards  the  effects  of  the  ha- 
bitual use  of  the  drug  on  the  mass  of  the  people,  I  must  aflirm, 
that  no  injurious  results  are  visible.  The  people  generally  are  a 
well-formed  and  muscular  race ;  the  laboring  portion  being  capable 
of  great  and  prolonged  exertion,  under  a  fierce  sun,  in  an  unhealthy 
climate.  Their  disposition  is  cheerful  and  peaceable,  and  quar- 
rels and  brawls  are  rarely  heard,  even  among  the  lower  orders ; 
whilst  in  general  intelligence  they  rank  deservedly  high  amongst 
Orientals.  Proofs  are  still  wanting  to  show  that  the  moderate  use 
of  opium  produces  more  pernicious  effects  upon  the  constitution 
than  does  the  moderate  use  of  spirituous  liquors ;  whilst,  at  the 
same  time,  it  is  certain  that  the  consequences  of  the  abuse  of  the 
former  are  less  appalling  in  their  effect  upon  the  victim,  and  less 
disastrous  to  society  at  large,  than  are  the  consequences  of  the 
abuse  of  the  latter.  Compare  the  furious  madman,  the  subject  of 
delirium  tremens,  with  the  prostrate  debauchee,  the  victim  of  opi- 
um ;  the  violent  drunkard  with  the  dreaming  sensualist  intoxicated 
with  opium  :  the  latter  is  at  least  harmless  to  all  except  his  wretch- 
ed self,  whilst  the  former  is  but  too  frequently  a  dangerous  nui- 
sance, and  an  openly  bad  example  to  the  community  at  large." 

NOTE  8,  p.  122. 

Dr.  Pidduck,  "  On  the  Effects  of  Tobacco,  as  seen  at  the  Dispen- 
sary in  St.  Giles's." 

NOTE  9,  p.  123. 

"  Ilistoire  m«:dicale  de>  Marais."     Par  Mont  falcon. 

NOTE  10,  p.  125. 

"Etudes   sur  la  Vie   anglaix-."      Par   Leon   Faiichcr.      The  pas- 
sages here  quoted  are  taken  literally  from  the  report  alluded  to. 


NOTES   TO  DEGENERATIONS   IN   MAN.  387 

NOTE  11,  p.  128. 

Attributable  to  the  same  cause,  the  disease  of  rye,  is  the  terrible 
affection  known  in  France  for  many  centuries  as  the  mat  ties  ar- 
dents,  the  peste  noir,  the  feu  de  St.  Antoine,  or  more  recently,  recog- 
nizing  its  source,  gangrenous  ergotism.  The  unfortunate  victims  of 
this  malady  suffered  most  intolerably.  The  grinding  of  the  teeth, 
the  contortions  of  the  whole  body,  the  terrible  cries,  indicated  the 
most  inexpressible  agony.  They  complained  of  a  fire  under  the 
skin,  which  consumed  the  muscles,  and  separated  them  from  the 
bones  ;  yet  the  surface  was  cold,  and  it  was  difficult  to  communi- 
cate any  warmth.  Later,  the  parts  affected  appeared  like  charcoal, 
and  the  air  was  poisoned  by  the  smell  of  the  putrid  flesh  separat- 
ing from  the  bones ;  the  arms  and  legs  came  off  completely  from 
the  trunk,  the  same  affection  seized  the  internal  organs,  and  they 
perished  in  extreme  agony.  In  some  cases,  the  malady  stopped 
short  of  gangrene,  but  this  was  a  rare  exception,  and  fever  suc- 
ceeded. In  some  cases  there  were  cramps  and  convulsions. 

NOTE  12,  p.  133. 

"  For  restricted  societies,  —  such  as  the  indigenous  tribes  which 
yet  inhabit  America,  and  for  more  numerous  societies  which  have 
scarcely  as  yet  passed  their  infancy,  —  the  contact  of  civilization  is  a 
fatal  thing,  when,  in  place  of  the  moral  law  which  it  should  diffuse, 
this  civilization  only  brings  the  means  of  gratifying  their  grossest 
appetites,  as  well  as  evil  tendencies,  —  the  result  of  a  complete  lack 
of  instruction,  —  acquired  or  transmitted.  The  extinction  of  the 
race  then  acts  in  a  manner  by  so  much  the  more  rapid,  as  the  uni- 
form mode  of  existence  in  these  small  societies  has  never  developed 
any  element  of  antagonism  to  the  degenerative  influences;  and  as 
the  temperament  of  the  individuals  has  not  bad  the  opportunity 
of  gradually  <i<l<if>fint/  itself  to  any  of  these  disorganizing  agencies. 
....  But  if  the  contact  of  Europeans  has  been  pernicious  to  these 
races,  when  the  sole  elements  of  civilization  have  been  fhe  interests 
of  commerce  and  the  introduction  of  vicious  habits,  it  is  certain 
that  these  in  their  turn  have  felt  the  evil  influence  of  the  contact  of 
the  Orientals,  only  borrowing  from  them  their  effeminacy  and  lux- 
ury. The  influence  of  climate  alone  does  not  explain  sufficiently 
the  modifications  which  the  European  races  have  undergone  when 
transplanted  to  tin-  Indie-;,  to  Africa,  and  to  Asia.  It  is  necessary 
to  examine  these  changes  in  the  new  conditions  brought  about  by 
conquest,  by  colonization,  by  immorality;  in  short,  by  all  which  I 
hive  included  under  the  head  of  mixed  causes  of  degeneration."  — 
MOREL,  op.  cit.,  chap.  iv. 


388      NOTES  TO  MORAL  AND  CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS. 

NOTE  13,  p.  134. 

I  give  the  subjoined  quotation  from  an  author  from  whom  I 
have  frequently  borrowed  in  these  pages,  not  as  illustrating  my  ouw 
opinion  upon  these  matters,  but  as  being  an  opinion  from  a  source 
worthy  of  consideration  in  some  respects  :  — 

"  If  it  be  true  that  all  people  should  be  subject  to  the  same  moral 
law,  in  the  same  form,  and  to  the  same  civilization,  then  it  is  sure 
that  certain  races  must  disappear  from  the  earth.  Many  of  them 
possess  aptitudes  solely  compatible  with  certain  social  phases,  —  a 
new  order  of  things  must  induce  their  annihilation.  Species  of 
animals,  created  for  a  special  medium,  have  disappeared  in  propor- 
tion as  the  atmospheric  conditions  of  our  planet  have  changed. 
The  social  phases  through  which  humanity  passes  are  for  man 
what  the  revolutions  of  the  globe  have  been  for  those  creatures 
whose  remains  we  find  in  the  stratified  crust  of  the  earth.  Barba- 
rous or  savage  populations  perish  in  the  atmosphere  of  civiliza- 
tion, as  the  anaplotherium  and  the  ichthyosaurus  have  perished 
when  the  medium  changed."  —  DR.  YVAN,  "  De  France  en  Chine," 
p.  34. 


MOKAL  AND    CEIMINAL  EPIDEMICS. 

NOTE  1,  p.  143. 
English  Churchman,  February  28,  1856. 

NOTE  2,  p.  144. 
Christian  Times,  January  25,  1856. 

NOTE  3,  p.  151. 

For  some  interesting  notes  on  this  point,  consult  Trench's 
"  Lectures  on  Words."  Amongst  others,  he  says  :  — 

"  This  is  a  notable  example  of  the  manner  in  which  moral  con- 
tagion, spreading  from  heart  and  manners,  invades  the  popular  lan- 
LMiaiM1  in  the  use,  or  rather  misuse,  of  the  word  '  religion.'  In  these 
times,  '  a  religious  person  '  did  not  mean  one  who  felt  and  allowed 
the  bonds  that  bound  him  to  God  and  his  fellows,  but  one  who  had 
taken  peculiar  vows  upon  him.  A  '  religious  house  '  did  not  mean 
in  the  Church  of  Home  a  Christian  household  ordered  in  the  fear 
of  God,  but  a  house  in  which  persons  were  gathered  together  accord- 


NOTES  TO  MORAL  AND  CRIMINAL  EPIDEMICS.      389 

ing  to  the  rule  of  some  man.  What  an  awful  light  does  this  one 
word,  so  used,  throw  upon  the  entire  state  of  mind  and  habits  of 
thought  in  those  ages  !  " 

NOTE  4,  p.  152. 
See  Mosheim's  "  Ecclesiastical  History." 

NOTE  5,  p.  165. 

For  an  account  of  the  causes  of  this  state  of  literature  in  England, 
see  Macaulay's  "  History  of  England,"  Vol.  I.  p.  399  et  seq.  The 
corresponding  condition  in  France  is  alluded  to  in  Alison's  "  His- 
tory of  Europe  from  1815  to  1852,"  Vol.  V.  p.  274. 

NOTE  6,  p.  177. 
From  the  Medical  Times. 

NOTE  7,  p.  180. 
From  the  Medical  Times. 

NOTE  8,  p.  181. 

For  many  of  the  succeeding  details  we  are  much  indebted  to  Mr. 
Charles  Mackay's  account  of  "  The  Slow  Poisoners,"  in  his  "  Me- 
moirs of  Extraordinary  Popular  Delusions,"  Vol.  II. 

NOTE  9,  p.  187. 
See  Mtdical  Gazette. 

NOTE  10,  p.  189. 
Alison's  "  History  of  Europe,"  Vol.  V. 

NOTE  11,  p.  195. 
See  English  Churchman,  February,  1856. 

NOTE  12,  p.  197. 

A  singular  instance  of  scientific  special  pleading  once  came  un- 
der our  own  notice.  A  case  of  poisoning  by  arsenic  was  under 
investigation  ;  the  poison  was  found  in  the  stomach  in  a  large 
quantity,  but  the  chemist  employed  for  the  defence  asked  the  writer 
of  this  paper  if  he  had  ever  heard  of  the  fumes  of  arsenic  which  had 
been  used  amongst  the  whitewash  for  the  wall  acting  as  a  poison, 
as  he  intended  to  found  the  defence  upon  the  opinion  that  the  de- 
ceased did  not  die  from  what  had  been  taken  into  the  stomach,  but 
from  thit  used  nnon  the  wall ! ! 


390  NOTES   TO   BODY   V.    MIND. 


BODY  v.  MIND. 

NOTE  1,  p.  201. 

A  contemporary  writer  makes  the  following  remarks  illustrative 
of  this  subject :  "  We  do  a  certain  Greek  word  the  honor  to  trans- 
late it  soul ;  but  it  is  in  fact  equally  applicable  to  the  vegetative  life 
of  a  cabbage,  to  the  animal  life  of  a  sheep,  and  to  the  spiritual  life 
of  an  apostle.  An  ordinary  Greek  thought  his  body  just  as  much 
of  the  essence  of  his  humanity  as  his  spirit,  and  bodily  just  as  im- 
portant as  spiritual  perfection.  If  St.  Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh 
was  a  visible  deformity,  a  Greek  educator  would  have  thought  it 
better  fur  him  to  be  put  to  death  as  soon  as  he  was  born  than  to 
live  a  burden  and  a  disgrace  to  his  community  and  to  himself. 
Plato  himself  would  have  regarded  it  as  an  abuse  of  the  art  of 
medicine  to  cherish  the  flickering  flame  of  life  in  a  Pascal  or  a 
William  III.  Epictetus  summed  up  all  that  was  most  startling 
and  paradoxical  to  a  Pagan  ear  when  he  said,  in  his  own  lines  on 
himself,  '  I  was  a  slave,  a  cripple,  a  beggar,  —  and  a  favorite  of  the 
gods.'  "  —  Saturday  Review,  November  7,  1857. 

NOTE  2,  p.  210. 

A  writer  in  the  Saturday  Review  has  alluded  to  the  second  prop- 
osition in  terms  with  which  we  cannot  but  agree  :  — 

"  We  are  glad  that  so  distinguished  an  educator  as  Dr.  Kennedy 
has  said  a  word  to  allay  any  undue  apprehension  that  may  have 
been  excited  as  to  the  neglect  of  physical  development  at  schools. 
One  would  suppose  people  had  never  seen  the  playing-fields  of 
Eton,  Harrow,  Winchester,  or  Rugby  alive  with  cricket  or  football, 
or  the  Thames  at  Windsor  on  a  summer's  evening.  Those  who 
think  that  boys  at  an  English  public  school  do  not  feel  respect  for 
distinction  in  games,  as  well  as  distinction  in  Greek  and  Latin,  or 
that  the  masters  of  English  public  schools  do  not  encourage  this 
fee. ling,  must  be  ignorant  of  English  school-boy  life.  Go  to  a 
cricket-match  at  any  of  the  public  schools,  and  look  round  the 
ground.  You  will  soon  see  whether  the  masters  stand  aloof  from 
the  amusements  of  the  boys,  —  whether  t<>  them  the  physical  excel- 
lence of  their  pupils  is  a  matter  of  indificrencc  or  aversion,  —  and 
whether  they  grudge  every  moment  which  is  given  to  the  invigora- 
tion  of  the  body  and  taken  from  the  overstraining  of  the  mind. 
!»oys  there  are,  —  as  there  are  some  men,  —  who,  in  spite  of 


NOTES   TO   BODY  v.   MIND.  391 

all  encouragement,  and  even  goading,  will  not  take  much  part  in 
the  sports  of  their  fellows.  Sometimes  this  arises  from  extreme 
physical  weakness,  which  may  be  outgrown  in  time,  but  which 
cannot  be  cured  by  force.  Sometimes  it  arises  from  temperament. 
Generally  it  is  an  unhappy  temperament,  but  occasionally  —  as  in 
the  instance  cited  by  Mr.  Gladstone  and  now  before  our  eyes  —  it  is 
that  temperament  of  deep  thoug-htfulness  which  seems  the  one  in- 
dispensable condition  of  all  kinds  of  greatness.  Saving  these  ex- 
ceptions, —  which  no  system  will  reduce  to  uniformity,  any  more 
than  it  will  make  the  color  of  all  boys'  hair  the  same,  —  we  should  say 
the  education  of  English  boys  at  good  schools  always  includes  a 
fair  amount  of  bodily  exercise,  and  that  the  masters  desire  and  take 
care  that  it  should  be  so.  Indeed,  if  we  had  to  name  that  which 
in  modern  times  most  corresponds  to  the  ancient  Greek  system  of 
bodily  and  mental  training,  we  should  name  the  classics  and  cricket 
of  an  English  public  school." 

NOTE  3,  p.  212. 
"  Physiology,"  Vol.  II.  p.  817. 

NOTE  4,  p.  213. 
Dr.  Carpenter,  "  Human  Physiology." 

NOTE  5,  p.  213. 
"  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  Mind;" 

NOTE  6,  p.  213. 

"  On  the  Physical  Basis  of  Life."  —  Fortnightly  Review,  for  Feb- 
ruary, 1869. 

NOTE  7,  p.  216. 
Miiller,  op.  cit. 

NOTE  8,  p.  221. 

"When  the  mind  has  been  long  and  actively  engaged, — if  we 
may  use  the  term,  overwrought,  —  a  great  dislike,  which  is  some- 
times permanent  and  invincible,  may  be  observed  to  mental  labor 
of  the  same  nature.  We  were  at  a  large  and  celebrated  classical 
school,  along  with  several  boys  distinguished  for  application,  and 
ranking  high  in  the  estimation  of  an  eminent  master,  by  whom 
they  were  tasked  to  the  utmost ;  yet  none  of  them  have,  to  my 
knowledge,  made  any  tigurc  in  life  cither  as  scholars  or  men  of 
business.  In  the  medical  profession,  we  have  known  students  who 
signally  exerted  themselves  while  they  were  making  ready  to  be  ex- 


392  NOTES   TO   BODY  V.    MIND. 

amincd  for  a  medical  degree,  but,  so  far  from  evincing  continued 
pleasure  in  scientific  pursuits,  they  have  since  degenerated  into  mere 
traders.  In  a  justly  celebrated  University,  in  which  the  examina- 
tion for  a  Fellowship  requires  a  length  and  closeness  of  application 
which  is  sufiicient  to  impair  the  power  of  most  minds,  it  has  been 
observed  that  many  of  the  Fellows  after  their  election  have  lost  all 
their  original  relish  for  learning,  and  have  become  men  of  little  per- 
formance, although  originally  of  great  promise."  —  DR.  CHEYNE, 
On  Partial  Derangement  of  the  Mind. 

NOTE  9,  p.  222. 

We  quote  the  following  passage  from  the  Scarijicator :  "  There  is 
that  which  destroys  more  fatally  than  continued  physical  exertion. 
The  tendency  that  over  brain-work  has  to  destroy  the  intellect  has 
been  long  observed.  Southey  died  in  darkness  from  over-toil. 
Walter  Scott  —  he  who  Anglo- Saxonized  the  language  of  Europe, 
and  made  a  literature  —  broke  down  near  sixty,  and  went  to  his 
grave  with  a  soft  bead.  'T  is  but  the  other  month  a  young  Scotch- 
man died  in  London,  worn  out,  his  mind  a  blank  from  literary  toil. 
And,  who  can  doubt  it?  Angus  B.  Reach  —  a  clever,  witty  fellow 
he  was  —  might  have  laughed  much  longer,  and  made  others  laugh 
too,  if  he  had  only  taken  half-care  of  himself! 

'  From  Marlborough's  eyes  the  tears  of  dotage  flow, 
And  Swift  expires  a  driveller  and  a  show,'  — 

A  soul  in  ruins ;  those  mysterious,  appalling  afflictions,  laying 
desolate  and  waste  'minds  that  could  wander  through  eternity/ 
have  made  us  pause  and  wonder  at  the  awful  dispensations  of  an 
All-wise  Providence,  and  for  a  moment  doubt  their  justness.  The 
continued  tear  and  wear,  the  constant  demand  for  more,  more, 
more,  sets  the  cerebral  mass  '  on  fire.'  '  My  brain  is  burning,  —  I 
can  bear  life  no  longer  ! '  said  the  author  of  the  '  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone/ and  shortly  ceased  to  exist.  Strange,  some  said,  how  Prov- 
idence should  have  allowed  such  a  man  to  pass  away  from  earth 
in  such  a  manner  ;  but  when  AVC  consider  the  subject  philosophically, 
there  is  nothing  mysterious  in  it,  however  much  we  may  regret  the 
circumstance.  Providence  acts  by  general,  not  by  special  laws. 
JIujJi  .Miller  was,  intellectually,  a  giant,  and,  physically,  pos>c»ed  a 
frame  of  iron  ;  but  he  violated  the  laws  which  govern  health,  —  he 
demanded  more  work  from  his  brain  than  it  could  AVC II  perform  ;  it 
reeled  and  staggered,  but  it  reeled  and  staggered  in  vain.  lie 
pulled  away,  and  la>hed  it  into  fury,  and  he  perished  to  gratify  his 
genius  and  his  ambition  !  " 


NOTES   TO  BODY  V.   MIND.  393 

NOTE  10,  p.  225. 
This  relates  to  the  year  1858. 

NOTE  11,  p.  235. 

For  those  interested  in  the  pursuits  and  training  of  our  rising 
graduates,  we  make  only  one  more  quotation,  this  being  part  only 
of  one  of  the  last  day's  questions. 

"  Assuming  the  formul* 

la        -\-mp      -\-    ny     =     0 
I  m  n 


a(v>  —  a2)     f*(v*  —  V)     7(v*  —  c*), 
investigate  the  equation  of  the  wave  surface  in  a  bi-axial  crystal." 

NOTE  12,  p.  236. 

We  have  given  so  much  space  to  the  Cambridge  examination 
that  we  have  thought  it  not  desirable  to  enter  into  any  analysis  of 
those  of  the  other  two  Universities  ;  and  in  fact  there  would  be  but 
little  variety.  As  is  well  known,  Cambridge  is  more  especially 
mathematical  and  Oxford  more  classical ;  London  is  but  little  be- 
hind either  in  each  department.  He  who  could  take  honorable 
rank  in  one,  would  play  a  respectable  part  in  either  of  the  others. 
This  is  only  so  far  as  the  general  decrees  of  B.  A.  and  M.  A.  are 
concerned.  The  special  degrees,  in  medicine  particularly,  require 
examinations  of  incomparably  greater  severity  in  the  London  Uni- 
versity than  in  either  of  the  elder  sisters.  Perhaps  there  is  no 
more  severe  test  applied  anywhere,  at  least  so  far  as  theoretical 
knowledge  is  involved,  and  practice  so  far  as  is  possible  also. 

NOTE  13,  p.  236. 

It  is,  however,  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  men  who  have 
obtained  urc.it  distinction  and  high  honors  at  our  two  English 
1'niversities  do  not  in  after  life  occupy  the  most  eminent  positions 
at  the  bar,  on  the  bench,  and  in  the  Senate.  First,  as  to 

Oxford.  —  Earl  of  Eldon,  English  Prize  Essay,  1771  ;  Lord  Ten- 
tenlen  (Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  IVnch),  Kn-lMi  Es>ay, 
1786,  Latin  verse,  1784  ;  Sir  W.  E.  Taunton  (Judge  in  Court  of 
Kiu.-r's  Bench),  English  Essay,  1793  ;  J.  Phillimore  (Professor  of 
Civil  Law),  English  Essay,  1798;  Sir  C.  E.  Gray  (Chief  Justice 
of  Bengal),  English  Essay,  1808;  Sir  J.  T.  Coleridge  (Judge  in 
Court  of  Queen's  Bench),  English  Essay,  1813,  Latin  verse,  1810, 
17* 


394  NOTES   TO  BODY  V.   MIND. 

Latin  Essay,  1813,  1st  class  Classics,  1812  ;  Herman  Merivalc  (Pro- 
fcsM>r  of  rolitical  Economy),  English  Essay,  1830,  1st  class  Clas- 
sics, 1827;  Roundell  Palmer  (Deputy  Steward  of  the  University), 
Latin  Essay,  1835,  Latin  verse,  1831,  English  verse,  1832,  1st  class 
Classics,  1834  ;  Lord  Colchester,  Latin  verse,  1777  ;  Sir  J.  Rich- 
ardson (Judge  in  Common  Pleas),  Latin  verse,  1792  ;  Sir  Charles 
Puller  (Chief  Justice  at  Calcutta),  Latin  verse,  1794  ;  G.  K.  Rick- 
ards  ( Professor  of  Political  Economy),  English  verse,  1830,  2d  class 
Chosics,  1833:  Nassau  Senior  (Professor  of  Political  Economy), 
1st  class  Classics,  1811;  Sir  Richard  Bethell  (Attorney-General, 
University  Counsel),  1st  class  on  the  Classics,  1818  ;  Honorable  J. 
C.  Talbot  (Deputy  High  Steward),  1st  double  Classics,  1825; 
Travers  Twiss  (Regius  Professor  of  Civil  Law),  2d  double  Classics, 
1830. 

Cambridge.  —  Sir  F.  Maseres  (Baron,  Exchequer),  4th  Wrangler, 
1752,  Senior  Medallist;  Sir  Elijah  Impey  (Chief  Justice,  Fort  Wil- 
liam, Bengal),  2d  Senior  Optime,  1756,  Junior  Medallist;  Sir  J. 
Wilson  (Judge,  Common  Pleas),  Senior  Wrangler,  1761;  Lord 
Alvanley  (Chief  Justice,  Common  Pleas),  12th  Wrangler,  1766  ;  the 
late  Lord  Ellenborough  (Chief  Justice,  King's  Bench),  3d  Wrangler, 
1771,  Senior  Medallist;  Sir  S.  Lawrence  (Judge,  Common  Pleas), 
7th  Wrangler,  1771  :  Sir  H.  Russell  (Judge,  in  India),  4th  Senior 
( )ptimc,  1772  ;  the  late  Lord  Manners  (Chancellor  of  Ireland),  5th 
Wrangler,  1777  ;  Chief  Justice  Warren,  of  Chester,  9th  Wrangler, 
1785;  the  late  John  Bell,  Senior  Wrangler,  1786,  Senior  Smith's 
Prizeman  ;  Sir  J.  Littledale  (Judge  in  Court  of  Queen's  Bench), 
Senior  Wrangler,  1787,  Senior  Smith's  Prizeman  ;  Lord  Lynd- 
hnrst  (late  Lord  Chancellor),  2d  Wrangler,  1794,  Junior  Smith's 
Prizeman  ;  Sir  John  Beckett  (Judge  Advocate),  5th  Wrangler, 
1795;  the  late  Sir  John  Williams  (Judge,  Queen's  Bench),  18th 
Senior  Optime,  1798;  the  late  Sir  N.  C.  Tindal  (Chief  Justice, 
Common  Pleas),  8th  Wrangler,  1799,  Senior  Medallist;  the  late 
Sir  L.  Shadwcll  (Vice-Chancellor  of  England),  7th  Wrangler, 
1800,  Junior  Medallist  ;  Starkie  Downing  (Professor  of  Law,  I'ni- 
versity  Counsel),  Senior  Wrangler,  1803,  Senior  Smith's  Prize- 
man; Lord  Wensleydale,  5th  Wrangler,  1803,  Senior  Medallist; 
the  late  Sir  T.  Coltman  (Jud.u-e,  Common  Pleas),  13th  Wrangler, 
1803;  Lord  Chief  Baron  Pollock,  Senior  Wrangler,  1800,  Senior 
Smith's  Prizeman  ;  Lord  Langdale,  Senior  Wrangler,  1808,  Senior 
Smith'.-  Pri/eman  ;  the  late  Baron  Alderson,  Senior  Wrangler, 
1809,  Senior  Smith's  Prizeman  and  Senior  .Medallist;  Sir  W.  H. 
Maule  (Judge,  Common  Pleas),  Senior  Wrangler,  1810,  Senior 
Smith's  Prizeman  ;  Baron  Platt  (Exchequer),  5th  Junior  Optimo, 


NOTES   TO  BODY  V.   MIND.  395 

1810;  Chambers  (Judge  of  Supreme  Court,  Bombay),  5th  Wran- 
gler, 1811  ;  Lord  Cramvorth,  17th  Wrangler,  1812;  Mirehouse, 
(Author  of  Law  of  Tithes,  and  Common  Sergeant  of  City  of  Lon- 
don), 13th  Senior  Optime,  1812  ;  Sir  J.  Romilly  (Downing  Profes- 
sor of  Law,  and  Professor  of  Law,  University  College,  London), 
4th  Wrangler,  1813;  Vice-Chancellor  Kindersley,  4th  Wrangler, 
1814  ;  Sir  R.  H.  Malkin  (Chief  Justice  of  Prince  of  Wales's  Island), 
3d  Wrangler,  J818;  Lord  Justice  Turner,  9th  Wrangler,  1819; 
the  late  R.  C.  Hildyard  (Queen's  Counsel),  12th  Senior  Optime, 
1823;  Mr.  John  Cowling,  Q.  C.,  M.  P.  (University  Counsel,  and 
Deputy  High  Steward),  Senior  Wrangler,  1824,  Senior  Smith's 
Prizeman;  Vice-Chancellor  Wood,  24th  Wrangler,  1824;  Vice- 
Chancellor  Parker,  7th  Wrangler,  1 825  ;  Mr.  Loftus  T.  Wigram, 
Q.  C.  (M.  P.  for  University),  8th  Wrangler,  1825;  Chief  Justice 
Martin  (New  Zealand),  26th  Wrangler,  1829,  3d  in  1st  class 
Classics,  and  Junior  Medallist. 

Dublin.  —  1795,  Sir  T.  Lefroy  ( Chief  Justice  of  Queen's  Bench), 
gold  medal ;  1800,  Sir  J.  L.  Foster  (Judge,  Common  Pleas,  M.  P. 
for  University,  1807),  gold  medal ;  1802,  P.  C.  Crampton  (Queen's 
Counsel,  Judge,  Queen's  Bench),  gold  medal ;  1803,  F.  Blackburne 
(Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland),  gold  medal;  1811,  R.  H.  Greene 
(Baron  of  Exchequer),  gold  medal ;  1823,  J.  H.  Monahan  (Chief 
justice,  Common  Pleas),  gold  medal. 

NOTE  14,  p.  242. 

We  again  quote  from  the  thoughtful  writer  in  the  Saturday 
Review  of  November  7th  :  "  The  ascendency  of  mind  over  phys- 
ical strength  is  civilization.  Everybody  knows  that  Thcrsitcs 
would  now  bring  down  Achilles  half  a  mile  off  with  an  Enfield 
rifle.  We  need  not  quote  Macaulay's  remarks,  —  as  brilliant  as  his 
remarks  usually  are,  and  more  true,  —  about  '  the  hunchback 
dwarf  who  urged  forward  the  fiery  onset  of  France,  and  the  asth- 
matic skeleton  who  covered  the  slow  retreat  of  England  '  at  the 
battle  of  Landen.  Read  the  chivalrous  and  romantic  Froissart's 
account  of  the  deliverance  of  France  from  the  English  invaders,  — 
you  will  see  nothing  but  the  hand  of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin.  Read 
the  true  history  of  the  time,  and  you  will  see  that  the  real  spring  of 
all  was  the  head  of  that  feeble  invalid  who  conquered  the  two  Ed- 
wards, to  their  great  amazement,  without  ever  mounting  a  horse 
or  drawing  a  sword.  It  was  the  dawn,  yet  unpercvived  by  the 
Troubadour,  of  the  triumph  of  intellect  over  men-at-arms.  And 
power  having  passed  from  the  body  to  the  mind,  ambition  itself  (to 
say  nothing  of  higher  motives)  will  mainly  cultivate  that  which  is 


396  NOTES   TO   BODY  V.   MIND. 

now  the  real  source  of  power.  The  development  of  physical  strength 
will  bo  comparatively  neglected,  and  the  body,  in  this  sense,  will 
V  sacrificed  to  the  mind.  Our  material  part  still  asserts  its  claims, 
as  all  who  have  tried  to  work  with  the  brain  under  great  physical 
suffering  or  debility  must  know  too  well  ;  but  they  arc  the  claims 
of  a  servant,  not  of  an  equal.  Nay,  even  those  gifts  of  mind  which 
are  most  akin  to  and  most  dependent  on  bodily  health  have  a  ten- 
dency to  fall  under  the  dominion  of  others  which  are  of  a  more  eccen- 
tric, and,  as  a  man  of  business  might  think,  of  a  morbid  kind.  You 
naturally  picture  to  yourself  the  ideal  of  humanity — the  great 
Man  — as  a  noble  bodily  presence,  full  of  health  and  vigor,  with  a 
mind  as  healthy  and  vigorous  as  its  abode,  with  all  the  faculties  and 
acquirements  equally  balanced,  and  the  soundest  judgment  sitting 
supreme  over  the  whole.  Look  at  the  records  of  history,  and  see 
how  far  this  ideal  is  fulfilled  by  the  men  who  have  really  moved 
the  world.  Consider  the  strange  and  unsightly  caskets  in  which 
the  rarest  and  most  potent  essences  of  nature  have  been  enclosed. 
'  Is  this  humanity  ?  '  the  practical  writer  in  the  Times  would  say 
of  Socrates  in  his  day-long  trance  of  thought,  or  the  macerated  and 
visionary  Luther  in  his  Augustinian  cell.  No,  strictly  speaking, 
it  is  not  humanity.  It  is  the  upward  aspiration  of  a  being  of  whom 
mere  humanity  is  the  lower  and  grosser  part.  Jt  is,  in  one  sense,  a 
sort  of  disease.  But  to  cure  that  disease  would  be  to  reduce  man- 
kind to  a  mass  of  money-getting  clay." 

NOTE  15,  p.  243. 

"  According  to  my  view,  the  temperaments  are  entirely  depen- 
dent on  the  different  degrees  in  which  different  individuals  arc  dis- 
posrd  to  the  strivings  and  emotions  arising  from  the  depression  or 
excitement  of  the  feeling  of  self;  in  other  words,  in  the  different 
degrees  of  disposition  to  the  states  of  desire,  pleasure,  and  pain, 
and  on  the  extent  to  which  these  states  of  the  mind  are  promoted  by 
the  composition  and  states  of  the  organs  of  the  body."  —  MULLKR'S 
Physiology,  translated  by  Baly. 

NOTE  16,  p.  247. 
"  System  of  Physical  Education,"  p.  33. 

NOTE  17,  p.  247. 

"Infirmities  of  Genius,"  Vol.  I.  p.  112. 
Nori:  18,  p.  254. 

That  a  mental  endowment  should  retain  its  vigor,  it  is  necessary 
that  it  should  be  moderately  exercised.  If  the  exercise  of  the  re- 


NOTES   TO  ILLUSIONS  AND   HALLUCINATIONS.      397 

ligious  sentiments  be  interrupted,  for  example,  by  too  exclusive  an 
attention  to  science,  communion  with  God  will  lose  its  relish. 
Claudius  Buchanan,  while  at  Cambridge,  wrote  to  a  friend  as  fol- 
lows :  "  I  lind  this  great  attention  to  study  has  made  me  exceed- 
ingly languid  in  my  devotional  duties.  I  feel  not  that  delight  in 
reading  the  Bible,  nor  that  pleasure  in  Divine  things,  which  for- 
merly animated  me.  On  this  account  have  many  serious  students 
in  tliis  University  wholly  abandoned  the  study  of  mathematics  ; 
for  it  seems  they  generally  feel  the  same  effects  that  I  do."  —  DR. 
CHEYNE,  On  Partial  Derangement  of  Mind  in  supposed  Connection 
with  Religion,  pp.  57-59. 


ILLUSIONS  AND   HALLUCINATIONS. 

NOTE  1,  p.  258. 

"  Des  Hallucinations ;  ou,  Histoire  Raisonnee  des  Apparitions, 
des  Visions,  des  Songes,  de  1'Extase,  du  Magnetisme,  et  du  Som- 
nambulisme  "  ;  Par  A.  Brierre  de  Boismont.  To  this  work  I  am 
much  indebted,  in  the  present  paper,  for  facts  and  comments,  some 
of  which  may  have  been  accidentally  left  unacknowledged. 

NOTE  2,  p.  263. 

The  same  author  relates  the  case  of  an  intelligent  and  amiable 
man,  who  "  had  the  power  of  placing  before  him  at  will  his  own 
image.  He  often  laughed  at  this  eidolon,  which  also  seemed  to 
langh.  This  was  for  some  time  a  diversion,  but  the  result  was  de- 
plorable. He  became  persuaded  by  degrees  that  he  was  haunted 
by  his  '  double.'  This  other  self  discussed  obstinately  with  him, 
and  to  his  givat  mortification  often  worsted  him  in  argument.  At 
length,  wearied  with  ennui  and  annoyance,  he  resolved  not  to  enter 
upon  another  year.  He  arranged  all  his  affairs  with  the  utmost 
method,  awaited,  pistol  in  hand,  the  night  of  the  31st  of  December, 
and  when  the  clock  struck  midnight,  shot  himself."  —  Duality  of  the 
Mind,  p.  126. 

Goethe  also  positively  asserts  ("  Gessammt.  Werk."  t.  xxvi.  p. 
83)  "  that  on  one  occasion  he  saw  distinctly  his  own  'double.'  " 

NOTE  3,  p.  263. 

During  this  seclusion  in  Bethlehem  Hospital,  he  was  known  as 
Blake  the  Seer,  from  the  constancy  of  his  visions  of  the  illustrious 


398         NOTES  TO  ILLUSIONS  AND  HALLUCINATIONS. 

tload.  He  firmly  believed  in  the  reality  of  his  visions  ;  he  com  cr.M  d 
with  Michael  Angelo  and  Moses;  he  dined  with  Seminmiis  ;  there 
was  nothing  of  the  charlatan  in  his  aspect,  — he  was  simply  con- 
vinced. He  constituted  himself  the  painter  of  spectres  ;  with  his 
apparatus  prepared,  he  was  always  ready  to  take  the  portraits  of 
his  spiritual  visitors,  whom  he  did  not  invoke,  but  who  came  to  him 
expressly  to  ask  that  favor.  Edward  III.  was  one  of  his  most  con- 
stant visitors;  as  also. Mark  Antony  and  Richard  III.  All  these 
he  recognized  by  intuition  as  soon  as  they  appeared  ;  and,  granting 
the  truth  of  his  assumption,  his  conversations  with  them  were  dis- 
tinguished by  great  accuracy  and  shrewdness. 

NOTE  4,  p.  267. 

"  Letters  on  Demonology  and  Witchcraft,"  addressed  to  J.  G. 
Lockhart,  Esq.  By  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart. 

NOTE  5,  p.  271. 

"  Memoir  on  the  Appearance  of  Spectres  or  Phantoms  occasioned 
by  Disease ;  with  Physiological  Remarks."  Read  by  Nicola'i  to 
the  Royal  Society  of  Berlin,  on  the  28th  of  February,  1 799.  Trans- 
lated in  Nicholson's  Journal,  Vol.  VI.  p.  161. 

NOTE  6,  p.  272. 

Bostock's  "  System  of  Physiology."  Appendix  to  chap,  xvi., 
on  Ideas  and  Perceptions.  Third  edition,  p.  751. 

NOTE  7,  p.  278. 

"  Lcs  Farfadets,  on  tous  les  Demons  ne  sont  pas  de  1'autre 
Monde."  Par  Berbiguierc  de  Terre-Neuvc  dc  Thym.  Paris,  1821 . 

NOTE  8,  p.  281. 

"  QSuvres  Choisies  et  Posthumes  de  La  Harpe,"  4  vols.  in  8vo. 
Paris,  1806.  Tome  I.  p.  62. 

|  NOTE  9,  p.  288. 

Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury  relates  that  when  his  book,  "  De  Veri- 
tate  prout  distingnitur  a  Revelatione  Verisimili,  Possibili,  et  a 
Falso,"  was  approaching  its  conclusion,  he  devoted  to  it  every  spare 
moment  that  he  could  snatch  from  business.  In  doubt  as  to  its 
publication,  he  on  one  occasion  prayed  audibly  for  a  sign  to  guide 
his  decision,  and  affirms  that  he  had  no  sooner  concluded,  than  he 
heard  a  loud  but  agreeable  noise  in  the  heavens,  and  saw  also,  in 
the  nicot  .-oriMie  sky  possible,  the  place  whence  it  came.  This,  h" 


NOTES  TO  ILLUSIONS  AND  HALLUCINATIONS.      399 

says,  gave  him  great  joy,  believing  as  he  did  that  his  demand  was 
granted.  Be  it  remarked,  that  the  work  in  question  lias  by  no 
means  a  Christian  tendency,  and  this  anecdote  is  often  quoted 
ngainst  others  where  similar  hallucinations  have  been  supposed  to 
imply  supernatural  interference  for  a  given  purpose. 

NOTE  10,  p.  290. 

The  commentary  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  on  this  apparition  is  very 
appropriately  illustrative  of  this  part  of  our  subject :  "  The  an- 
ticipation of  a  dubious  battle,  with  all  the  doubt  and  uncertainty 
of  its  event,  and  the  conviction  that  it  must  involve  his  OWTI  fate 
and  that  of  his  country,  was  powerful  enough  to  conjure  up  to  the 
anxious  eye  of  Brutus  the  spectre  of  his  murdered  friend  Caesar, 
respecting  who«e  death  he  perhaps  thought  himself  less  justified 
than  at  the  Ides  of  March,  since,  instead  of  having  achieved  the 
freedom  of  Rome,  the  event  had  only  been  the  renewal  of  civil 
wars  ;  and  the  issue  might  appear  most  likely  to  conclude  in  the 
total  subjection  of  liberty.  It  is  not  miraculous  that  the  masculine 
spirit  of  Brutus,  surrounded  by  darkness  and  solitude,  distracted 
probably  by  the  recollection  of  the  kindness  and  favor  of  the  great 
individual  whom  he  had  put  to  death  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  his 
country,  —  though  by  the  slaughter  of  his  own  friend,  —  should  at 
length  place  before  his  eyes  in  person  the  appearance  which  termed 
itself  his  evil  genius,  and  promised  to  meet  him  again  at  Philippi. 
Brutus's  own  intentions,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  military  art,  had 
probably  long  since  assured  him  that  the  decision  of  the  civil  war 
must  take  place  at  or  near  that  place  ;  and  allowing  that  his  own 
imagination  supplied  that  part  of  his  dialogue  with  the  spertiv, 
there  is  nothing  else  which  might  not  be  fashioned  in  a  vivid  dream 
or  a  waking  re  very,  approaching  in  absorbing  and  engrossing  char- 
acter the  usual  matter  of  which  dreams  consist.  That  Brutus, 
well  acquainted  with  the  opinions  of  the  Platonists,  should  be  dis- 
posed to  receive  without  doubt  the  idea  that  he  had'  seen  a  real 
apparition,  and  was  not  likely  to  scrutinize  very  minutely  the  sup- 
posed vision,  may  be  naturally  conceived  ;  and  it  was  also  natural 
to  think,  that  although  no  one  saw  the  figure  but  himself,  his  con- 
temporaries were  little  disposed  to  examine  the  testimony  of  a  man 
«>  eminent  l>y  the  strict  rules  of  cross-examination  and  conrlictiiiLT 
evidence  which  they  might  have  thought  applicable  to  another 
person  and  a  less  dignified  occasion." — Demonology  and  Witehcrtift. 
pp.  10,  11. 

It  appears,  however,  that  Cassius,  who  was  of  the  Epicurean 
Brhorl,  r.r.  1  h-..l  l-.-'.t  little  faith  in  spirit",  did  toll  Brutus,  with  i 


400      NOTES  TO  ILLUSIONS  AND  HALLUCINATIONS. 


deal  of  circumlocution,  that  he  was  tired  and  exhausted,  and 
that  his  imagination  was  playing  tricks  upon  him. 

NOTE  11,  p.  305. 
"  Du  De'mon  do  Socratc."     Par  L.  F.  Lelut. 

NOTE  12,  p.  316. 

In  this  and  some  other  passages  I  prefer  giving  the  original,  for 
the  obvious  reason  that  a  translation  would  scarcely  be  credited. 

NOTE  13,  p.  328. 

To  avoid  frequent  references,  we  state,  once  for  all,  that  the  facts 
in  this  paper  are  derived  from  "  Memoirs  of  Pascal,"  by  his  sister 
and  his  niece,  from  the  "  Recueil  d'  Utrecht,"  and  from  M.  Lelut's 
"  Monograph/'  published  in  Paris  in  1846. 


THE   END. 


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"  The  utmost  that  any  European  tourist  can  hope  to  do  is  to  tell  the  old 
story  in  a  somewhat  fresh  way,  and  Mr.  Guild  has  succeeded  in  every  part  of 
his  book  in  doing  this."  —  Philadelphia  Bulletin. 
ABROAD  AGAIN;  or,  Fresh  Forays  in  Foreign  Fields 
Uniform   with   "  Over  the  Ocean."      By   the   same    author.      Crown  8vo. 

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ep*.in§  companion."  —  Halifax  Citizt'n. 


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VOYAGE   OF  THE    PAPER   CANOE 
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III.  RED   CROSS ;  OR,  YOUNG  AMERICA   IN  ENGLAND  AND 

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FORGOTTEN  MEANINGS 

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SHORT  STUDIES  OF  AMERICAN  AUTHORS 

By  THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON,  author  of  "  Young  Folks'  History 
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UNIVERSAL  PHONOGRAPHY 

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